The Daily Blog

 

October 14, 2024

The Newtown Liberty Seated Half Dollar PDF Auction Catalog Arrives

GFRC Consignment Window is Open Effective October 18

and

Next Daily Blog Edition on Friday

 

 

Greetings on a late Sunday afternoon and welcome to an early Monday edition of the Daily Blog. I just can't seen to put down this publication, but will definitely be off line through Thursday.

The opportunity to attempt racing school at the Hallett Speedway in Jennings, OK is being taken quite seriously. During the past month, the 1993 Miata has been transformed from a smooth running 5th gear, high gas mileage touring machine, to that of a 3rd and 4th gear speedster. The need to practice downshifting while "blipping" the accelerator was paramount and has been mastered. Subtle driving details like always holding a steering wheel at 10-2 with left and right hands and never cross hands during a turn is a new acquired skill. Unfortunately, the tight position of the brake and accelerator pedals and my size 12 feet did not allow for mastering the heal-toe maneuver. Hey, this is a vacation and school to have fun rather than setting a course record...

All is packed and we are ready for an adventure. Let's move on to GFRC updates.

 

The Newtown Liberty Seated Half Dollar PDF Auction Catalog Arrives

Honestly, I'm quite proud of the new Newtown Liberty Seated Half Dollar auction catalog as presented today. Aaron Heintz has assembled a superb CAC centric collection and hopefully the finished product does his set justice. Of course, Len Augsburger is the master of auction cataloging and his numismatic prose and research attains the "finest known" level.

It is with extreme honor that GFRC Online Auctions presents the Newtown PDF catalog for your viewing enjoyment. Simply quick on the following catalog cover to download the PDF file. The download will take a few moments as the file is quick large.

Presenting The Newtown Liberty Seated Half Dollar Collection Catalog

 

Printed catalogs will be available at the Whitman Baltimore November lot viewing event along with incremental viewing at the Orlando Winter FUN show. The first auction session will start on January 19, 2025 with the follow-on auction sessions in March and May 2015 being announced in November.

 

GFRC Consignment Window is Open Effective October 18

Now that the Newtown catalog is published, remaining is the construction of the Fortin Seated Dime catalog prior to GFRC returning to regular price list operations. The consignment window will open starting on October 18, but please understand that I will be attending the Manchester NH coin show next week. The scheduling of consignment shipments will be a mutual agreement between GFRC and consignors. Let's also remember that consignments may be best tendered once we are back in the Venice Florida office after the Whitman Baltimore show.

Please let me know what you wish to consign and we can work out the transfer details.

 

Next Daily Blog Edition on Friday

The next Daily Blog edition will be published this coming Friday with stories and images from the Hallett Speedway and my buddy, Blake Gibb. Blake called on Sunday afternoon to advise that he is picking me up at the Oklahoma City airport in a can't miss blue Porsche. The next few days will be exciting.

Thank you for checking in and be well!

 

 

 

October 13, 2024

Vacation Time!

and

Newtown Liberty Seated Half Dollar PDF Auction Catalog is Posting Today

 

Greetings and welcome to a very short Daily Blog edition as I'm mentally moving into vacation mode. Thanks for stopping by.

Let's get right to the point as the time is already after 8:00 AM and I'm finally motivated to sit in the office and type. This brief holiday is long overdue with sincere thanks going out to Blake Gibb (Sooner Collection) for suggesting the idea followed by coordinating the event.

The office will be open today with outgoing shipping prepared for Tuesday. Just yesterday, I was reminded that tomorrow is Columbus Day and a USPS holiday. If wishing to make a purchase, I would enjoy the inquiry and possibility. Otherwise, the Newtown Liberty Seated Half Dollar PDF auction catalog will be wrapped up and posted to the Auction link today.

Again, I will not be carrying the laptop during this short but certainly exciting holiday, therefore the next Daily Blog edition will appear on Friday morning. Images from the Hallett Speedway are a certainty.

Of course, emails will be monitored throughout the journey and responded to when possible as I have a great sense of the GFRC inventory and what coins are available for purchase.

I believe that covers all the bases. Thank you again for the visit.

Be well!

 

 

 

October 12, 2024

Preparing for Hallett Speedway Racing School

Newtown Liberty Seated Half Dollar Auction Catalog is 50% Complete

1841 PCGS MS63 CAC Seated Dollar Buyback

and

Peak Autumn Colors and Spreading Wood Chips

 

Greetings on a Saturday morning and welcome to the Daily Blog. There will be one more Blog edition on Sunday before heading to Oklahoma for Hallett Speedway racing school. Thanks for checking in.

I'm sitting in the GFRC office at 7:00 AM with blustery winds and leaves flying everywhere. The skies are blue except for what appears to be deep white and gray clouds coming over the top of Ledge Hill. The burning bushes are bright rose-red at this point.

Friday afternoon brought an email from the Hallett Speedway racing school with a downloadable instructional CD. I went through the CD fairly quickly to learn terminologies and the importance of racing flags among a host of other important information. Since Blake Gibb sent along two racing books a month ago, which I completely absorbed, much of the CD content appeared familiar at this point. The key is executing turns and hitting the apex correctly at full throttle. I've watched multiple Hallet Speedway videos and have a decent sense of the 1.8 mile course and the challenging turns. For those who might be curious, following is a link to a YouTube video for a high speed tour of the the race course in the counter clockwise direction. Note the screeching tires in the final turns.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNSCbf1CjZs

 

Newtown Liberty Seated Half Dollar Auction Catalog is 50% Complete

Excellent progress is on hand for the Newtown Liberty Seated Half Dollar auction sale catalog. Much of Friday was dedicated to this project with content completed up through the Civil War dates. Today will bring closure to this effort. As with most challenges in life, practice makes perfect. Each GFRC Online Auction catalog becomes more straightforward to assemble due to learning new tricks for speeding up the process.

 

1841 PCGS MS63 CAC Seated Dollar Buyback

From day to day, I never know what might appear in terms of consignment opportunities, buybacks, or just outright purchases. This is part of the fun of operating a rare coin business and supporting a community. With so many clients over the years, there is always some "churn" among clients and their collecting goals. Yesterday brought a welcomed buyback opportunity of a coin that was sold during July 2021. The buyback discussion was promptly accomplished with this 1841 PCGS MS63 CAC Seated dollar shipping back to the office this coming week. If having potential interest, please send along an email inquiry.

1841 PCGS MS63 CAC $1 - POR

 

Peak Autumn Colors and Spreading Wood Chips

Let's shift attention to my love for the outdoors and joy with living in Maine. Following are two images taken yesterday. The first is yet another back deck image of the coastal horizon at what I believe is just a few days before 2024 peak colors. Given the current blustery morning winds that we are experiencing, this image may have been fortuitous as leaves will be dropping quickly at this point. The colors are exceptional as the early afternoon sun in much lower in the sky and providing the perfect illumination angle.

 

For two years, I've been searching for a solution to tidy up the area behind the barn. This unkempt area has been visually bothering me to no end. With the huge wood chip drop accomplished via ChipDrop.com, the material was now n place in clear up and decorate this area. During the past two afternoons, much progress has been made thanks to Johnny2's backhoe. Following is an image of the progress taken late Friday afternoon at roughly 5:00 PM. Already, dusk is starting to creep in, therefore the lower lighting conditions.

There is a lot taking place in the image. Before spreading the wood chips, the vegetation along the rock retaining wall must be dug with the backhoe and hauled away. Secondly, this is Raymond with sub surface rocks being a constant challenge. The 270B backhoe was ideal for digging out this surface rocks that Johnny2 was bouncing over when moving wood chips around or loading tree logs into Kevin Johnson's trailer. Those rocks were dug out and will be dealt with later this afternoon. The wood chip finish provides a nice contrast against the gray and white boulder wall.

 

Wrapping Up The Blog

That is the extent of today's content. My attention now shifts to completing the Newtown auction catalog and responding to purchase orders and a consignment proposal. The consignment window will be formally re-opened once I'm back from Oklahoma and the auction project workload is moving along at an excellent pace.

Thank you so much for visiting the Blog on an ongoing basis.

Be well!

 

 

 

October 11, 2024

A Coyote Sighting

GFRC Venice Office is Just Fine

and

Strong Response to CAC Approved Seated Quarter Posting

 

Greetings and welcome to the Daily Blog on a cool Friday early autumn morning. Thank you for staying close to these ramblings.

The autumn season is progressing on schedule with daytime temperatures continuing their downward trend. We are expecting high 30s during the overnights with high 50s during the waking hours come the weekend and for next week. Let's remember that Halloween is the rule of thumb for the first potential snowfall with property preparations needing to get done during the next three weeks. As an example, I started the backup Honda generator yesterday with two mice jumping out. This was a warning sign that the many mice bait traps around the homestead and barn required a refill as now is the time that field mice are preparing their winter nests.

We open today's Blog with a perfect timing story...

It was last evening at 6:15 PM. I was on the back deck with a jacket grilling fresh caught haddock for dinner and enjoying a tequila nip while taking in the coastal horizon colors. The haddock only takes 6-7 minutes to cook. As I'm relaxing in front of the warm grill, a coyote emerges from a wooded spot, behind the barn, and crosses the crushed stone path towards the Dodson property. The sighting was amazing considering that my attention had to be focused in that direction to catch that large animal. This chance sighting is consistent with Diane seeing a small moose in the back yard earlier this year along with my run in with a 2-point buck during the middle of summer. There certainly is wildlife in the back acreage as these chance sighting provide validation.

 

GFRC Venice Office is Just Fine

The Venice news arrived quickly yesterday morning and much to our relief. A full time resident and HOA board member walked the complex and checked each of the 20 four unit condo building for damage. Other than torn up landscaping and a few torn lanai screens, the Auburn Lakes Condominiums emerged unscathed from Hurricane Milton. Unfortunately, Siesta Key, the point of landfall, suffered a fair amount of structural damage along with some homes on the ocean side of Venice Island. It clearly could have been much worse. Now that Milton is in the history book, the Fortins will be heading directing to Venice after the Whitman Baltimore show. Once there, the focus shifts to the Black Friday Sale event during Thanksgiving weekend.

 

Strong Response to CAC Approved Seated Quarter Posting

After several quiet office days, we were pleased with the strong order response to yesterday's CAC approved Liberty Seated quarters. Six of the nine lots were scooped up by day's ends with most shipping ahead today. How I wish that GFRC could locate a constant source for this type of inventory.

 

A Cool Cherrypickers 1926 Saint

Die variety hunting appears to be in my blood...

When posting the new $20 Saint consignment to the price list, or any other new inventory, I always conduct a 10x check of the surfaces for marks or hairlines. In the case of this 1926 $20 gold piece graded PCGS MS65, die doubling was promptly noted at the date and surrounding devices. A quick check of the CoinFacts website validated my finding as a Triple Doubled Obverse which is listed in Cherrypickers as FS-101. The PCGS Price Guide suggests a $250 premium for the variety. Up next is that fresh lot from an old time collection with images and the GFRC description. I believe the offer price is attractive and deserves some consideration. This lot has not been submitted to CAC.

1926 TDO FS-101 PCGS MS65 G$20 - $3450

Triple Die Obverse, Deep Honey Green-Gold, Hammered Strike, Gem Original. The 1926 Philadelphia issue falls into the "common date" category but is still better than the truly common 1924, 1927, and 1928 dates. As is typical for the date, this gem certified example offer a very sharp strike with rich frosted luster and vibrant cartwheels. A 10x review noted that this piece is a Triple Die Obverse (FS-101) as listed in the Cherrypickers with an associated premium per the PCGS price guide. The coloration is a deep honey green-gold. The overall presentation is noteworthy and required a JUST BUY IT NOW recommendation for the premium quality. The TDO variety that is not listed on the PCGS label. Housed in PCGS Gen 4.4 (2005-2011) holder.

 

Wrapping Up The Blog

Today brings an active shipping morning with seven packages heading to USPS. Come late morning and the afternoon, the Newtown Liberty Seated Half Dollar Collection auction catalog will finally see progress. Yes, I've delayed working on this project for a few days and must get going.

There will be no Blog editions come Monday through Thursday of next week as I will be traveling to Oklahoma with only my cellphone. It makes no sense to carry the laptop and docking station to write a Blog edition on Wednesday morning. Tuesday and Wednesday are the two race school days at the Hallet Speedway with an early morning flight out of Portland on Monday and ditto out of Oklahoma City on Thursday. Yes, there will be picture opportunities that will be shared come a week from today.

I will comment more on the GFRC office schedule for next week during Sunday's Blog.

Thank you for the ongoing readership.

Be well!

 

 

October 10, 2024

We Believe the GFRC Venice Office is OK

CAC Approved Liberty Seated Quarters to Consider

and

New Hampshire Coin Expo Arrives October 24 - 26

 

Greetings on a Thursday morning and welcome to the Daily Blog. Thank you again for checking in. A special thank you goes out to the many readers who expressed their well wishes and best karma concerning Hurricane Milton.

As the top headline indicates, we believe that our Venice condo, in the Auburn Lakes Condominiums, has weathered Hurricane Milton. The opinion was reached yesterday late afternoon as Milton was just about to make landfall at Siesta Key. Colder northern air was wrapping around the counter clockwise rotation of the hurricane and clearing the southern half of heavy rains. The winds were also quickly subsiding into a Cat 3 hurricane. I was up early this morning to check YouTube for storm chaser videos in the Venice area. These brave (crazy) individuals were driving around I-41 and securing videos of the storm surge hitting communities on the immediate coastline. The lack of excessive rains on the south side was a blessing as the storm surge up into the Blackburn Canal coupled with heavy rain could have resulted in flooding. The winds appeared to be no worse than Hurricane Ian, just several years ago.

Our HOA board president, Bill Eftax, made a decision to stay put in his Saw Grass complex villa (adjacent to Auburn Lakes HOA) with his family including his 92 year old mother who lives in the condo directly above us. Insights into the storm damage will be reported today as Diane is on the HOA board.

Unless my analysis and educated guess is way off base, I'm heading to Oklahoma on Monday for Hallett Speedway racing school on Tuesday and Wednesday. The GFRC office will be closed from Monday through Thursday next week as I am finally taking a real vacation and leaving the laptop behind in Maine. There are no memories of traveling without a laptop including the Alaska cruise during 2020, so this will be a huge personal break from a digital life.

 

CAC Approved Liberty Seated Quarters to Consider

Here are most of the CAC approved lots from the Liberty Seated quarter collection that we have been posting to the 30 Day Price List during the past few weeks. There is an 1844 PCGS EF45 CAC lot that has already been posted since there were existing images on file and an 1884 PCGS EF45 quarter that was sold as part of a multi-piece deal. Finally, the 1887 quarter as shown next has a FRoR on the books.

Look for these lots to be posted to the price list by noon time or so.

 

CAC Approved Liberty Seated Quarters to Consider

      1867-S PCGS VF35 CAC 25C - $3000                                               1875-CC PCGS EF40 CAC 25C - $2250     

        

1853-O A&R PCGS VF25 CAC 25C - $250             1864 PCGS VF30 CAC 25C - $765             1878-CC PCGS AU53 CAC 25C - $650    

                

1881 PCGS VF20 CAC 25C - $550                   1887 PCGS EF40 CAC 25C - $950                  1888 PCGS VF30 CAC 25C - $700

                

 

New Hampshire Coin Expo Arrives October 24 - 26

The "Manchester NH Coin Show" is rapidly approaching and best to remind Blog readers in the New England area that GFRC will be at its usual booth location. Ernie Botte continues to grow his reputation as one of the best show promoters in the numismatic business as this show continues to expand. Ernie contacted me last week to advise that the GFRC booth number would be changing since he is adding more tables to the event. If you carefully inspect the below bourse map, Ernie has filled the entire Double Tree convention center space at this point. I remember the early days when Ernie could only fill 50-60% of so of the available floor space

GFRC has a new booth number 607 but we are at the same location as past shows. I am planning eight cases of retail offerings and WILL NOT be exhibiting the Fortin and Newtown Liberty Seated coinage auction bound collections at this event. My case space is limited and I will be operating the booth on a solo basis. If there is a huge demand for the two upcoming auction collections to be brought for auction lot viewing, I might be convinced to do so but the demand must be substantial. GFRC Online Auctions will be conducting auction look viewing at the Whitman Baltimore show on November 14-16 and at the Orlando FUN show come January 9-11, 2025. The first of three auction sessions begins on January 19, 2025.

New Hampshire Coin Expo - GFRC at Booth 607

 

Wrapping Up The Blog

The Maine autumn weather continues to be seasonally fantastic and I'd like to spend several hours on Johnny2 today working on some trail enhancements. Today brings the posting of the CAC approved Liberty Seated quarters to the price list along with starting the construction of the Newtown Liberty Seated Half Dollar Collection PDF catalog.

Thank you again for the kind well wishes concerning Hurricane Milton. The extent of the damage, if any, will be know in a few hours.

Be well!

 

 

 

October 9, 2024

Hoping for the Best, Planning for the Worse

 

Greetings and welcome to the Daily Blog. It is a Wednesday morning with Hurricane Milton barreling towards the Sarasota and Tampa area.

There is little to discuss today as frankly, I'm not in the mood to compose a long Blog edition.

Dan White and I spoke last evening on potential scenarios come next week. Dan's home is in the Oaks complex in Osprey which is between Venice and Sarasota. Yesterday brought the notice that Evacuation Level C must leave the area. Level C includes both of our Florida homes and essentially means that nearly all of the coastal residents from Tampa south must evacuate. If there is one silver lining, it is the fact that both Dan and I have homes in New England and are not caught up in the evacuations and the post hurricane environment nightmare with no power and water.

The 5:00 AM NOAA update provided no improvements to the forecast as we are on the path for a direct hit by Milton's eye and the associated winds.

Blake Gibb also checked in on next week's Hallet Speedway racing school plans. We agreed that Friday would be the day that the Fortin's might have information on the fate of our condo and what needs to take place next. There is the possibility that I may be driving to Florida in the coming days for clean-up. Friday's post storm report, if we can secure one, will be telling.

On the numismatic front, it is the status quo. Only new postings are selling with the regular inventory being idle. There are the usual low ball offers from Collectors Corner which are being denied on behalf of consignors. All GFRC Online Auctions auction descriptions have been finalized with the emphasis shifting to catalog construction.

That is it for today. Be well!

 

 

 

October 8, 2024

GFRC Suspends Florida Shipments

Pricing Distortion & Lovely $20 Saints to Consider

and

GFRC-Lite NCNA Show Report

 

Greetings and welcome to the Daily Blog on a Tuesday morning. Thank you for returning for another edition.

Honestly, it is difficult to stay focused on the GFRC business at this point as we learned of the damage caused by Helene to the immediate Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Sarasota coast lines. Much of the establishments at Sarasota's St. Armands Circle were flooded and are closed. The predicted Milton storm surge will be twice as high as that of Helene which implies total devastation. It is sad to think of what will happen to the beautiful Venice Island downtown area which has been recovering from Hurricane Ian. On a practical note, the main Venice post office is within walking distance of the ocean and will be taking a substantial hit when Milton comes on shore. The next 48 hours will be disconcerting to say the least. As I told Diane last evening, thank goodness that Maine is our primary home and we can remain in New England until the situation in Florida returns close to normalcy. We grew up in Maine and can handle a few snowstorms and driving on icy roads.

As the top headline indicates, GFRC is suspending order shipments to Florida as of yesterday. One order is currently impacted while our retail business is languishing. If it were not for the Liberty Seated quarter roll out, the order rate for existing inventory would be down to a trickle. There is just too much bad news, a contentious election, and other factors leading to anxieties for collectors feeling comfortable with purchasing expensive coins.

At GFRC, we provide unfiltered straight talk as that is the best approach for all involved. Profits are great but relationships are paramount.

Shifting topics, the wild turkey flock has decided to make their home on the Fortin and adjacent Dodson properties. During the past week, the flock can be seen moving around both lots as they continually search for food. It is a cool sight until they happen to arrive to my newly planted lawn behind the gazebo. At that point, I must invite them to move elsewhere as the fescue and bluegrass is still sprouting.

 

Pricing Distortion & Lovely $20 Saints to Consider

Now that spot gold is trending at the $2650/oz level, $20 collector gold pricing has become distorted. Gone in the traditional situation for common date Liberty and St. Gaudens where an AU55 is priced lower than a MS62, and a MS62 is priced lower than a MS63. All of these grades are now priced at a tiny premium over spot gold as essentially a bullion purchase. It is not until reaching the MS64 level that a condition premium starts to appear. If spot gold moves higher, then the MS64 premium may also be impacted. Those individuals with numismatic capital and wish to secure a gold play should consider the MS64 and MS65 grades as these are traditional collector grades and provide long term value when the market finally corrects. If spot gold does drop, MS64/MS65 graded gold should hold most of its current value. If gold moves up further, then gem gold will eventually correct to a higher level above spot.

Today brings an eight piece St. Gaudens lot from a fairly new consignor who wishes to remain anonymous. This individual is at the point in a life when the time has come to sell his gold holdings while the yellow precious metal is experiencing a bold rally. The following showcase presents several better early Philadelphia dates and a 1924 grading set with all four pieces being CAC approved. The 1924 MS64+ CAC and MS65 CAC lots present a noteworthy opportunity as both are gems without a substantial premium over spot. All offer prices have been carefully researched and are market competitive. Look for these lots to reach the price list by late in the day along with being posted to Collectors Corner for much wider marketing. In the meantime, you really don't need a GFRC description to make a purchase. The premium quality of this entire lot is quite high and there will be only positive feedback upon a purchase's arrival.

Lovely $20 Saints to Consider

      1911 PCGS MS64 G$20 - $4700                                                       1912 PCGS MS64 G$20 - $7350    

        

       1913 PCGS MS64 G$20 - $6650                                                1924 PCGS MS64+ CAC G$20 - $3250    

        

   1924 NGC MS65 CAC G$20 - $3500                                              1924 NGC MS66+ CAC G$20 - $5750     

        

   1924 NGC MS67 CAC G$20 - $35,000                                             1926 PCGS MS65 G$20 - $3350     

        

 

 

GFRC-Lite NCNA Show Report

Rich Hundertmark is back from the North Carolina Numismatic Association coin show held in Concord on Thursday through Saturday of last week. Once again, Blog readers have an opportunity for more straight talk concerning the current numismatic market and how coin dealers are navigating the waters.

Hi Gerry,

This past week Lite attended the annual NCNA show in Concord, NC which is always well run by promoter Perry Siegel. 

The Concord show is a fun local event for Lite, but always physically and mentally taxing, here’s why:

The drive from Winston Salem to Concord is about 65 miles, on dealer setup Thursday I arrived at 2pm, concluded a large dealer sale, enjoyed a great barbecue highlighted by some good brisket, and happily left for home around 6:30PM.

On Friday I was up at 6AM, showered, a quick cup of coffee, out the door, 75-minute drive, setup the table for the 10am show opening, 8 hrs on the bourse, left at 6PM, arrived home 7:15PM, and then repeated the process on Saturday. 

There are a few reasons why I can still pull this routine off as a senior, 1- I’m a disciplined individual with a strong work ethic, 2- I love coins, the hobby, and trying my best for my loyal consignors.

Although Lite was able to make the bottom range of its’ targeted sales goal, there were many signals that the rare coin market continues to slow. Firstly, it was obvious to anyone in attendance that show traffic was down. Also obvious to any dealer in attendance was that for those that did attend, collectors were more cautious in spending, I certainly had that “museum curator” feeling, especially on Friday, which is normally the key “make or break” day. Thankfully, Saturday was a good day, and as the saying goes, “all’s well that ends well”.

I do not attribute the low attendance or lack of collector’s enthusiasm to storm Helene as that tragedy is maybe 90 miles west from Concord, and the NC mountains are not a high population/ high income area that would dramatically affect the show’s results.

Rather, there is no doubt the economy has weakened, and consumers are certainly more cautious with spending their discretionary funds. Based on my own experience, I’m estimating a significant 10%-15% price contraction in the marketplace for the material Lite focuses on.

As a takeaway “to do” Lite will proactively contact consignors pre-Baltimore show with price recommendations based on the current marketplace.

So, what was the good news and how did Lite achieve acceptable sales results? The answer is that over the last 2 years I’ve made it a point to establish good relations with other dealers that are in search of fresh to market collector coins that are properly graded (when raw) and fairly priced (be they raw or TPG graded). 

Also, I will pridefully add that many of my sales were to repeat customers (both dealers and customers), so a good reputation and client base appears to have been developed.

So now I’ll be adding many new consigned and purchased coins to the Lite website over the next few weeks. I’ll also be prepping for November Baltimore Whitman which is the last major coin show for 2024. 

As always, I'm looking forward to connecting with many old friends and blogamaniacs, in addition to checking out the Fortin Seated Dime and Newtown Seated Half Dollar collections as time allows. 

Stay safe and happy collecting!

Rich

 

Wrapping Up The Blog

Spot gold is trending over so slightly downward with a quote of $2648 as of 7:15 AM via the London Exchange. We must remember that the Shanghai Exchanged is closed as a golden holiday week in mainland China. Therefore, price discovery is in the hands of LBMA and COMEX traders. All eyes will soon be on the BRICS summit during October 22-24 as there are expectations for a settlement currency announcement via the Bank of International Settlements mBridge platform. In the meantime, the war in the Middle East continues to spook the oil markets with a rise in $100/bbl futures contracts.

The sun is back out in Raymond which means solar heating and power today. Diane will soon be off to the Cumberland County Courthouse leaving me in the GFRC office. Today goals are to complete the Fortin Liberty Seated Dime auction lot descriptions along with loading the featured $20 gold to the 30 Day Price List, and starting to prepare the template for the Newtown Liberty Seated Half Dollar PDF auction catalog. How I would enjoy being interrupted with a numismatic order or two!

So ends today's Blog edition. I hope that the visit was worthwhile. Thanks again and be well!

 

 

 

 

October 7, 2024

Nothing We Can Do But Hope for the Best...

Newtown Liberty Seated Half Dollar Auction Reserves are Posted

and

Nearing Peak Autumn Colors in Raymond

 

Greetings on a Monday morning and welcome to the Daily Blog. Thank you for returning.

In yesterday's headline, I alluded to the fact that Sunday was a "vacation" day. It was indeed time off from the GFRC business. Instead of working in the office, my energies shifted to the outdoors. The day started at 7:30 AM and wrapped up at 5:00 PM. The first step of the day was improving access to our leaves and grass clippings compost area which meant digging out surface boulders with Johnny2 and backfilling those holes with gravel. The newly deposited wood chips were then spread over the smoother surfaces. Afterwards, pine needles were raked, a dead birch tree was removed and turned into fire wood, the driveway maple leaves were cleared, and the entire lawn was mowed. A this point, the homestead property look great, at least for a week, before more leaves fall to the ground.

 

Nothing We Can Do But Hope for the Best...

Unfortunately, Hurricane Milton will be a 100 year storm in terms of the Tampa Bay and Sarasota portion of west coast Florida. We have been fortunate to have dodged a disaster with Hurricane Ian and Dalia with Ft. Myers being devastated by the latter hurricane. It now appears that our Venice home is in the cross hairs of Hurricane Milton. Though the exact path of the hurricane is still up for debate via computer models, there is no question that we will be facing a huge storm surge and hurricane force winds. This is also the worse possible scenario as the storm is traveling eastward which makes the storm surge perpendicular to the land, and that much more forceful.

The Auburn Lakes Condo HOA stands at about 18' above sea level and is roughly three miles inland. This morning's check of a Venice elevation map confirmed our elevation and provided some anxiety relief. A storm surge of that level would be historic and hopefully will not take place.

There is nothing we can do but wait and hope for the best. The Auburn Lakes HOA board president lives in the adjacent villa association directly north of Auburn Lakes and will be reporting to the board members as to the extend of the damage. Diane is on the HOA board and will be the first to know on the status of our twenty two story buildings on the property. Unfortunately, Diane will be a juror at the Cumberland County courthouse when Milton crosses through the western Florida coast and must wait until end of day for reports from full time residents in our complex.

Blog readers will be updated starting Thursday after the hurricane passes through the area. GFRC also has clients along the I-4 corridor to Orlando that will also be impacted. In particular, the Lakeland Collection mother/son collecting team are in our thoughts. Dan White's Osprey Florida home is just 15 minutes north of Venice and will also be at risk for damage.

My whereabouts after the hurricane passes through will be a function of potential damage to our condo.

 

Newtown Liberty Seated Half Dollar Auction Reserves are Posted

The task of setting the Newtown Liberty Seated Half Dollar auction reserves took all of Saturday. This was far from a trivial exercise as each lot was carefully examined along with available price guides for establishing credible reserves. The proposed reserves were promptly approved by our Newtown client and are currently posted to the online auction catalog. Simply click on the above banners to go straight to the online catalog.

 

Nearing Peak Autumn Colors in Raymond

The autumn colors are quite beautiful this year as peak colors are only a week away. Following is an update taken from the back deck prior to the lawn being mowed. Our back yard lawn is a combination of brown and green. Once can easily see where the lower lying areas are with water collection in front of the settler's stone wall leading to bright green shades. The lawns to the left and behind the gazebo have also filled in. As usual, clicking on the image provides access to a higher resolution version.

 

What is Gerry Up To Today?

Today brings a GFRC office day with attention to multiple consignments. The Lakeland Collection consignment will see a pricing proposal and initial image processing. The returning Liberty Seated quarters, with fresh CAC stickers, will be loaded into the COIN system and also priced. Ditto for the eight piece $20 St. Gaudens consignment. Come Tuesday, attention shifts to the construction of the Newtown Liberty Seated Half Dollar PDF auction catalog which will take us well into Wednesday.

So ends today's ramblings. Thank you for the visit.

Be well!

 

 

 

October 6, 2024

A Daily Blog Vacation Day

See You on Monday

 

October 5, 2024

A Third Round of Liberty Seated Quarter Offerings

and

Setting the Newtown Liberty Seated Half Dollar Collection Auction Reserves

 

Greetings on a wet autumn Saturday morning and welcome to another Daily Blog edition. What could I possibly do with myself on a weekend morning if not in the GFRC office? Lots! Thanks, as always, for the visit.

Yes, when extending commitments, these must and will be honored as we continue to showcase another Liberty Seated quarter lot from a newly complete collection. More on this topic shortly.

Carlo and I were at it again in the financial realm and on the money management topic on Friday. The September jobs report, and August upward revision, caught everyone by surprise. After months of weak jobs reports and ongoing downward revisions, we saw a shift immediately before the election. Something just does not feel right. Our bet on bond yields dropping, and conversely, the price of bonds increasing, received a setback as the 10 Year Treasury bond increased to 3.97%. Is this a trend or a one off?

The expanding Middle East war is becoming disconcerting as the world awaits Netanyahu next step against Iran. WTI crude oil pricing has increased but not to a level that would be warranted for the current risk of a serious expansion to the war. Therefore Carlo and I agreed that we would shift money out of Treasuries, that are not working as planned, and into the largest energy ETF (XLE). Carlo has also been watching the China equity market ETF (FXI) and noted that the recent People's Bank of China ((PBoC) stimulus efforts have resulted in FXI breaking out from its hibernation. So we have taken a position there also. I like both trades for another reason, namely from the perspective of a weakening U.S. dollar but not from a DXY perspective, rather from a gold pricing viewpoint. DXY is a measure of the U.S. dollar against the Yen and Euro, while gold is a measure of the dollar against eastern currencies. Let's be clear that China holds the most physical gold in the world with an estimate of 40,000 tons. The U.S. Treasury holdings are reported to be 8,133 tons but unaudited for decades. My point is that crude oil is priced in U.S. dollars and if the dollar weakens, then the price of a barrel of oil as priced in dollars must rise. The same is true for having a position in a market denominated in Yuan. If the dollar will slide against the Yuan, then the value of a position in Chinese stocks will increase. Being aware of global currencies crosses (exchange rates) is important in the current multi-polar global environment. The BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia during October 22-24 looms large.

Let's move to today's headlines.

 

A Third Round of Liberty Seated Quarter Offerings

Friday brought the posting of the second wave of newly consigned Liberty Seated quarters to the 30 Day Price List. Afterwards, it was back to incremental image processing for the following showcase. I am not certain when these new offerings will be posted to the price list as today's emphasis shifts back to the forthcoming 1H2025 GFRC Online Auctions event as per the next headline. These freshly showcased lots are immediately available at the posted offer prices.

A Third Round of Liberty Seated Quarter Offerings

          1850 PCGS AU55 25C - $1000                                                   1852 RPD PCGS AU53 25C - $950    

        

    1878-S PCGS VF30 25C - $1450                                                     1891-O PCGS VF20 25C - $1600    

        

1850-O PCGS EF40 25C - $725                           1856 PCGS AU58 25C - $425                          1857 PCGS AU55 25C - $340

                

1857-O PCGS AU53 25C - $675                         1863 PCGS VF35 25C - $425                            1865 PCGS AU50 25C - $825

                

1873 NA O3 PCGS AU53 25C - $550                  1876-CC PCGS AU50 25C - $350                     1877-CC PCGS AU65 25C - $525

                

 

Setting the Newtown Liberty Seated Half Dollar Collection Auction Reserves

Today key goal is working through the Newtown Liberty Seated Half Dollar Collection auctions lots and building a reserve pricing proposal for our long term consignor. The time spent reviewing Aaron Heintz's collection will be a joy given the lofty grades and exceptional eye appeal, one fun aspect of being a coin dealer. How do I go about setting reserves? This process in information intensive with multiple online resources including the CAC and PCGS price guides, CoinFacts auction records, and the GFRC Sales Archives. The Archives are important as many of the Newtown lots were sourced from GFRC with the balance from named auctions and via private treaty. I also have the consignor's cost basis for all lots and understand his end goal for this divestment process. One by one, each half is pulled from the double row slabbed boxes and again examined under a bright light towards setting a proposed reserve.

Once this task is accomplished the balance of the day returning to description generation for the remaining Fortin Liberty Seated dimes.

 

Taking Sunday Off

There will be no Daily Blog edition on Sunday as the focus shifts to the outdoor and property clean-up. The lawn needs to be mowed and the driveway maple leaves must be cleaned as this tree is already 90% bare at this point. There is also a dead birch tree that needs to be cut down and turned into firewood. An early start to the day would be nice towards maximizing outdoor progress.

Thank you as always for the visit. I hope that it was worth the time taken.

Be well!

 

 

 

October 4, 2024

ChipDrop.com - Free Wood Chips

and

A Second Wave of Liberty Seated Quarter Offerings

 

Greetings and welcome to the Daily Blog on a Friday morning. Thank you for the visit.

The GFRC office is a beehive of activity as the Liberty Seated quarter price list release continues. The community response has been strong with a host of dates selling quickly. A visit to the 30 Day Price List will validate this claim. Today brings another entire day dedicated to this Seated quarter release with eleven CAC restickered lots due to arrive via Doug the Mailman at noon time.

Thursday also brought bright sunshine which facilitated the photography of the new Lakeland Collection consignment along with the $20 Saint lot that was showcased on Wednesday.

Let's jump right into the headlines with an opening topic that many readers may find surprising and/or useful.

 

ChipDrop.com - Free Wood Chips

Wood chips, as a garden, landscaping, or walking trail mulch, can be secured for free via a new online app at ChipDrop.com. I learned of this opportunity from a friend several weeks ago and immediately signed up for the program. Tree service companies and arborists are now chipping their tree and branch cuttings rather than hauling to landfills or recycling sites. On certain jobs, the wood chips must be hauled off the site and deposited elsewhere. This is where ChipDrop comes into play by creating a local list of home owners who are ready takers for free loads of wood chips. Talk about a win-win for everyone involved.

The registration was straightforward with information requests for the physical address, the site access method, and where the wood chips are to be dropped. The website provides dialogue boxes for explaining where to drop the wood chips along with the options to upload images of the drop location. In the Fortin case, the drop site was behind the barn where Tip Line Tree Service had already dumped 20 yards when conducting their coastal horizon clearing project in August. ChipDrop also provides an option for a donation to the provider. The amounts range from $20 to $100 per drop with billing accomplished via a provided credit card. I'm certain that the higher the donation, the more likely of a drop in a crowded suburb region. The donation is inexpensive when considering that a 16 yard load of mulch via Dave Wilkinson is roughly $650.

On Monday, I received an email notice from ChipDrop that a local aborist would be dropping wood chips on Tuesday. His email contact was provided so that I can coordinate directly with the vendor. Tuesday arrived with the first drop of roughly 16-18 yards of pine and maple wood chips including a lot of green leaves. The vendor was still on the job and asked if I would take a second load on Wednesday. Sure was the response as wood chips are a great ground cover for the walking trails and other back acreage areas being landscaped. These piles might be daunting for those without a tractor with a front loader, but in my case, Johnny2 can easily move this material in a day's time.

Here is an image of the two wood chip drops taken yesterday afternoon. My apology for the sunlight reflections on the upper right.

 

A Second Wave of Liberty Seated Quarter Offerings

The release of more Liberty Seated quarters from a top rated PCGS Set Registry collection continues today. Following is a preview of lots that will be posting to the 30 Price List throughout the day. Offer prices are noted for each piece. These are selling quickly, therefore please contact me asap via email, text, or phone call to reserve your purchases.

Better Liberty Seated Quarter Dates

           1867 PCGS AU53 25C - $2350                                          1869 PCGS VF25 25C - $1100    

        

 1869-S PCGS VF35 25C OGH - $1000                                         1872-S PCGS EF40 25C - $9500    

        

 

The Seated Quarter Rollout Continues With These Offerings

              1842 PCGS VF35 25C - $550                1842-O Lg Date PCGS VF35 25C - $300          1861 II/II PCGS AU53 CAC 25C - $375    

                

   1876-S PCGS AU53 CAC 25C - $300                    1879 PCGS VF30 25C - $525                        1891-S CACG MS62 25C - $685      

                

 

Wrapping Up The Blog

You guessed it! Today brings another full office day as we make a concerted effort to load as many Liberty Seated quarters to the price list as possible. There will be some morning shipping followed by a full court press to process more images and keeping the sales momentum moving forward. Come Saturday, the priority shifts to preparing the Newtown Liberty Seated Half Dollar Collection reserve proposal for the consignor's approval and, wrapping up the auction descriptions for the Fortin Seated dimes. We will see where we stand on Sunday and what the priority will be for that day. God rested on Sunday and maybe some time outdoors might be in the cards.

Next week's priority will be the construction of the Newtown and Fortin auction catalogs while Diane spends three days as a jurist for a Cumberland County criminal trial. The following week takes me out west for two days of racing school at the Hallet Motor Racing Circuit in Jennings, Oklahoma courtesy of Blake Gibb (Sooner Collection).

Thank you again for checking in at the Daily Blog.

Be well!

 

 

 

October 3, 2024

A Wave of Liberty Seated Quarter Offerings

 

Greetings on a early October Thursday morning and welcome to the Daily Blog. Thank you for the visit.

Today's commentary will be brief as Wednesday brought a pivot to the recent Liberty Seated Quarter Collection consignment. As mentioned yesterday, Wednesday through Friday would see my time fully committed to processing and posting this noteworthy collection to the 30 Day Price List. So far, so good as the sell through rate is quite strong.

Let's move quickly into today's featured content.

 

A Wave of Liberty Seated Quarter Offerings

We open today's special Liberty Seated quarter presentation with two Carson City key dates that many collectors dream of owning. Initial production began at the Carson City Mint during 1870 with only 8,340 pieces struck. Survivors are rare with no Mint State examples certified by PCGS. This VF30 certified example features crusty gray patination with well preserved surfaces. Next is a lovely 1873-CC Arrows lot that is certain to garner much attention. The light coin gray patina is natural with "dirt" surrounding the major device elements as a testament to the originality. Though not CAC approved, I really like this piece for its preservation, eye appeal, and fair offer price. It is recognized that most collectors are not in a position to write a check for these two five figure coins. I'm always open to a payment terms discussion to make a deal happen.

Liberty Seated Quarter Carson City Key Dates

           1870-CC PCGS VF30 25C - $33,500                                          1873-CC Arrows PCGS VF25 25C - $28,500    

        

 

This next four piece group features much better dates in the Liberty Seated quarter series. The presentation opens with a very difficult 1849-O example and infrequently seen in the market place. This piece has a D.L. Hansen pedigree on the label. Next is a choice original 1853 No Arrows lot that captured my eye. The medium coin gray patina is consistent with expectations with pleasing overall eye appeal.

The 1856-S is a noted condition rarity in AU condition or finer. This lot is nicely detailed with residual frosted luster. The last of the "big boy" offerings is an important 1872-CC lot with thick crusty gray patina on both sides. Though not at the same rarity level as the 1870-CC or 1873-CC Arrows issues, this date tops out in availability at the VF grades with EF and AU survivors being very rare. Now is the opportunity to acquire a specimen at a fair offer price.

 

And Much Better Dates to Consider!

            1849-O PCGS VF25 25C - $4500                                             1853 No Arrows PCGS VF20 25C - $3950      

        

     1856-S PCGS AU53 25C - $3850                                                 1872-CC PCGS VF20 25C - $12,000    

        

 

The Seated Quarter Rollout Continues With These Lovely Ladies

1840 Drap PCGS AU50 25C - $700                1841 DDR PCGS EF45 25C - $635                      1844-O PCGS EF45 25C - $425  

                

1845 PCGS AU50 25C - $350                          1846 PCGS AU55 25C - $650                         1856-O PCGS EF45 25C - $315

                

 

Wrapping Up The Blog

Another long office day is in the cards. The morning hours will bring the posting of today's featured quarters to the price list. Come the afternoon, image processing will again be the focal point as another round of offerings is prepared for Friday's Daily Blog edition.

Please do not be bashful about emailing, texting or calling an order for these quarters or any other lots on the GFRC price list. Let's remember that the summer doldrums are over with the fall and winter coin show season kicking in soon.

Thanks again for the visit.

Be well!

 

 

October 2, 2024

LSCC Fall Gobrecht Journal - Centerfold Article is Done

Fortin Liberty Seated Dime Collection Auction - The Gold CAC Lots

Pivoting Back to Liberty Seated Quarter Offerings

and

Tuesday's Arrival - Awesome $20 Saints

 

Greetings and welcome to the Daily Blog on a Wednesday. Thank you for the visit.

The month of October is shaping up as expected. Each day brings non-stop action as if still working in the semiconductor industry. Is this a good or bad situation at an age when I'm suppose to be retired? Honestly, the challenges are keeping me mentally sharp including a return to strict time management towards getting deliverables accomplished. Time to watch television or a vice-presidential debate? You must be kidding...

Let's jump into the headline topics as another busy day is on the horizon.

 

LSCC Fall Gobrecht Journal - Centerfold Article is Done

Tuesday's primary deliverable was a Gobrecht Journal centerfold article that accompanies the illustration of twenty dimes from the Fortin Liberty Seated Dime Collection. This piece of numismatic prose was created during the morning hours in between phone calls with clients and emailed to Greg Johnson, Gobrecht Journal editor by early afternoon. Greg conducted an overnight review and turnaround with proposed edits submitted via checking emails at 5:00 AM. I went with the edits before composing today's Blog edition. and appreciated the opportunity to review the changes. Therefore, it is 6:40 AM with the centerfold article submission completed.

 

Fortin Liberty Seated Dime Collection Auction - The Gold CAC Lots

After submitting the Gobrecht Journal centerfold article, the focus promptly shifted to wrapping up auction descriptions. The balance of the afternoon brought online research and the preparation of Fortin auction descriptions through the 1888 PCGS MS66 Gold CAC Seated dime. Within that description, I mentioned the fact that the 1888 coin was the last of seven Gold CAC lots being offered in a single collection auction. Seven Gold CAC lots in a predominately Mint State 19th century collection is truly unprecedented. Why not prepare a showcase within Wednesday's Blog for sharing this accomplishment?

Following are the seven Gold CAC lots within the Fortin Liberty Seated Dime Collection auction for our mutually viewing enjoyment. A paragraph could be written on each but time does not allow for this sharing. Instead, you are invited to visit the individual auction descriptions at the GFRC Online Auctions link by clicking on the above banner.

The Fortin Gold CAC Liberty Seated Dimes

      1838 F-104 PCGS MS65 Gold CAC 10C                                          1839-O F-101 PCGS MS65 Gold CAC 10C    

        

    1841 F-104 PCGS MS65 Gold CAC 10C                                         1845-O F-101 PCGS AU55 Gold CAC 10C    

        

    1863-S F-101 PCGS MS64 Gold CAC 10C                                        1867-S F-102 PCGS MS64 Gold CAC 10C    

        

    1888 Unlisted PCGS MS66 Gold CAC 10C

 

 

Pivoting Back to Liberty Seated Quarter Offerings

With the Fortin auction descriptions down to the last seven dates, we are pivoting today towards kick-starting regular GFRC October price list sales. The current plan is to prepare the Newtown Liberty Seated Half Dollar reserves for approval this coming weekend followed by catalog construction next week. This approach will allow three days to focus on a roll out of the newly shared Liberty Seated quarter consignment.

Yesterday brought a phone call to CAC to confirm the turnaround for eleven quarters that required green bean restickering. Yvonne is a sweetheart and promptly checked on the status with confirmation that the lot would ship back to the Maine office on Thursday. As previously mentioned, these CAC lots must be entered into the COIN system, photographed, and priced upon arrival.

So get ready as I will loading a nice mix of Liberty Seated quarter offerings to the 30 Day Price List across the next 72 hours....

 

Tuesday's Arrival - Awesome $20 Saints

The sale of a recent $2.5 Liberty Gold consignment is moving along at a positive rate with the consignor being pleased with the progress. This individual has accumulated notable United States gold in all denominations with the $2.5 lot being the first of many consignments. Yesterday brought the arrival of a small sampling of his $20 St. Gaudens towards keeping the GFRC U.S. Gold price list looking fresh. After Diane had unpacked the shipment and my initial viewing, I felt compelled to call the consignor to congratulate him on the overall quality of this lot. When first inspecting $20 Saints, my loupe always goes to Liberty's head and the adjacent fields (primary focal area) to confirm the absence or presence of marks. This lot brought pristine viewing leading to the phone call.

Following is a quick cellphone image of those lots for consideration. Please note the top row that is a 1924 CAC approved grading set with varying shades of gold based on the gold:copper alloy. Yes, the NGC MS67 CAC on the top right is a "big" coin!

 

Wrapping Up The Blog

I hope that you've enjoyed today's edition. Up next is a quick shower followed by a full day in the office processing and posting Liberty Seated quarter offerings. Of course, Diane and I always make time, at some point in the day, for a health walk on the back trails. Constant exercise and a healthy diet are key to being able to enjoy a busy lifestyle.

Thank you again for today's visit.

Be well!

 

 

October 1, 2024

GFRC-Lite Kicks Off Fall Shows Thursday at the NCNA Convention

Liberty Seated Quarter Carson City Key Dates to Consider

and

An October 1 Southern Maine Foliage Baseline

 

Greetings on the first day of October 2024 and welcome to the Daily Blog. We appreciate the ongoing visits and long term readership.

What is going on with phone and internet outages in the country? Both Verizon and USCellular have reported major outages in the past 48 hours if conducting an online search. The Verizon outage became quite apparent as a U.S. gold client wished to speak about a newly arrived shipment but he proved to be unreachable yesterday.

The natural disaster and emerging videos from western North Carolina are truly sad. The widespread devastation from Hurricane Helene is now becoming apparent from what could be one of the worst storm events in U.S. history.

Tonight brings a Vice-Presidential debate that I will not be watching as the election season has already gone on for too long. The political divide is readily obvious just a half mile down the road from the homestead. Two families are pro-Harris and two are pro-Trump with their political signs on the roadway. Maine is a divided state with the southern portion (District 1) being solid blue while the central and northern part of the state is solid red. Here in Raymond, we are on the border between District 1 and 2 which explains what is taking place down the road. I'm making a point of not letting politics infiltrate the Daily Blog or my psyche as the media is doing all it can to raise anxieties with its endless clickbait headlines.

Monday brought a full court press to roll out the new Liberty Seated quarter collection with all lots being photographed and much progress with image processing. Rather than relaxing after dinner, I was back in the office writing auction descriptions for the remaining Fortin Liberty Seated Dime Collection lots. We are now complete through 1885 if wishing to take a look at the Auction catalog link.

Let's move forward with today's headlines.

 

GFRC-Lite Kicks Off Fall Shows Thursday at the NCNA Convention

Rich Hundertmark sent along the following piece for today's Blog edition.

Hi Gerry,

Wow, storm Helene left a trail of destruction in the southeast with much loss of life and property this past weekend. Luckily the storm track was about 2 hrs west of Winston Salem so I just experienced heavy rains. Many do not realize how impactful a powerful storm can be in a mountain region. River flooding and mudslides can wreak havoc on infrastructure and property leaving many stranded and without water and electric. My thoughts and prayers are with all that are affected in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Tennessee.

Moving on to the less important topic of the business of numismatics, I just received an email from the NCNA promoter stating all is well for the Concord show held Oct 3-6th at the Cabarrus Arena. 

The NCNA Concord convention is a large show with over 200 tables and a premier event on the southeast fall show schedule.

Dealer setup is Thursday, with the show opening to the general public on Friday Oct 4th at 10 AM. A few dealers from the mountain region of North Carolina will not be in attendance but it’s hopeful that all tables will be filled as there is a show waiting list that’s being called to fill vacancies.

Lite will have 4 cases, 2 cases with certified coins, 2 populated with raw coins. As always, the Lite inventory will have a heavy dose of Seated material complemented by Bust, Barber and other 19th- early 20th century issues.

I hope to see a few blogamaniacs at the show. Lite recently had a spurt of consignment activity that is well timed for the NCNA event. I’ll be posting new arrivals and show purchases on the Lite site post show.

Best
Rich 

 

Liberty Seated Quarter Carson City Key Dates to Consider

The heart of any complete business strike Liberty Seated dime, quarter, and half dollar collection are the Carson City dates. The new western mint began production during 1870 with limited quantities until the output expansion during 1875 and 1876, the latter being a centennial year with rumors of special proof like strikes.

Following are the 1870-CC through 1873-CC Carson City dates within the newly consigned Liberty Seated quarter collection. These four lots are free agents with price quotes on demand. Come Wednesday, the individual GFRC images will be posted with offer prices in the Daily Blog. In the meantime, please enjoy a collector's accomplishment and ponder if any of these lots would be a welcomed upgrade. Of course, layaway terms can be discussed given the investment necessary to secure these coins. Please feel free to click on the below image to secure a higher resolution version.

 

An October 1 Southern Maine Foliage Baseline

This year's autumn season has been one for the record books in terms of warm temperatures and sunny days with today continuing that trend. Now that October 1 is upon us, it is tradition that we post images of the coastal horizon view from the back deck every week until the leaves have fallen. Peak foliage will arrive in a little over two weeks.

Already, the maple tops are displaying orange and burnt yellow shades while the hearty oak maintain their deep green colors. The newly planted lawn to the left of the gazebo has filled in nicely while the back ground golden yellow in the woods are drying ferns. The lack of rain is evident in the foreground lawn that is drying out.

This image was taken at 1:00 PM on Monday with the usual afternoon clouds appearing. The coastal view has been expanded a bit this year with incremental steps planned for the summer of 2025. Clicking on the below image provides access to a higher resolution version for those that wish to conduct a more detailed inspection.

 

Wrapping Up The Blog

Regardless of today's fantastic autumn weather, I will be working in the GFRC office the entire day. Today's key deliverables are completing the Fortin auction descriptions and writing a centerfold introductory article for the Liberty Seated Collectors Club Fall Gobrecht Journal edition as the submission deadline is just days away.

If interested in acquiring any of the many GFRC numismatic items, I can be reached by email, text, or phone call. It would be great to have a solid start to the October sales month on the first calendar day.

Thank you so much for the visit.

Be well!

 

 

September 30, 2024

Newtown Liberty Seated Half Dollar Collection Descriptions are Completed

and

Rolling Out a Liberty Seated Quarter Collection

 

Greetings on the last day of September 2024. The time has arrived for another Daily Blog edition after taking a break on Sunday. Welcome back and thank you for checking in.

The northern New England foliage season is now underway with an accelerating color transition. This was readily apparent late Sunday afternoon after driving back from Diane's birthday celebration dinner in Falmouth. The Sicilian Table is a new upscale restaurant with fine dining, an excellent wine list, and impressive decor that has become the go to location for our circle of friends. When driving north to Gray, the roadside oranges, yellows, and gold were readily apparent. It is probably time to baseline the back deck coastal view today and publish in Tuesday's edition. In just three weeks, we will be at peak colors.

While enjoying dinner, the conversation shifted to our annual Florida migration which is only six weeks away coincident with the Whitman Baltimore show. The conversation was a wake up call as to the amount of challenges that Diane and I face through the month of October. For example, Diane has been selected for a three day trial and will experience being a jurist. Towards the end of the month, she heads to Austin for a week's visit. Gerry also has a terribly busy schedule with finalizing and printing two auction catalogs for the upcoming Newtown and Fortin Liberty Seated coinage sales. Added into that mix is a trip to Oklahoma for racing school October 14-15 and the Manchester NH coin show October 24-26. Let's not forget that come late October, the primary outdoor task becomes blowing and raking leaves prior to our Baltimore/Florida departure. In between all of these events, the Fortins will still be operating GFRC at a quick pace as the consignment opportunities continue to roll in.

Oh, did I mention that we have local and national elections at the beginning of November that will add just more naturally distractions?

Yesterday's dinner and the conversation was a wake-up call that time on Johnny2 is probably over for 2024 as every hour will be precious for accomplishing our objectives and supporting GFRC clients.

Spot gold is pulling back a bit this morning was the London quote is down to $2640/oz. Silver is also down in sympathy with gold at $31.21.

Let's move forward with today's headlines...

 

Newtown Liberty Seated Half Dollar Collection Descriptions are Completed

I'm relieved to report that the forthcoming GFRC Online Auctions event for the first half of 2025 continues to stay on schedule.

This past weekend brought the completion of the Newtown half dollar descriptions as Len Augsburger kicked it into hyper drive and beat me to the finish line. The Newtown portion of the online catalog has been fleshed out with only the reserves remaining to be added.

The Fortin Seated dime descriptions are completed through the 1882 date along with posted reserves. By the end of this coming week, the goal is to have the entire online catalog completed to allow a pivot to PDF auction catalog construction. Preparing two individual catalogs, each with over 100 lots, is a substantial undertaking for sure.

Finally, in terms of auction news, Len Augsburger will be handling the auction lot viewing duties at the upcoming Whitman Baltimore show. I would love to sit behind my Liberty Seated Dime Collection but with only Gerry and Diane to handle all of the GFRC regular price list inventory, that will not be possible. Trust me, you are in great hands with Len as LSCC President and a long term collector himself.

 

Rolling Out a Liberty Seated Quarter Collection

The reason that Len beat me to the auction description finish line is that I've taken a detour back to regular GFRC price list sales towards brings a substantial Liberty Seated quarter collection to market. The three lots that were previewed in Saturday's Blog edition are already on hold with purchase prices being available at the 30 Day Price List.

As of this morning, the offer prices for all lots have been approved by the consignor, other than those sent to CAC NJ for restickering. Those fourteen pieces were quickly shipped without being first loaded into the COIN system. Secondly, photography has been completed through the 1869-S date with image processing being today's priority along with photo'ing the balance of the in house lots through 1891.

How will GFRC sell this collection? The roll out will be done with a combination of Daily Blog previews and regular price list postings. The consignor is motivated to securing new numismatic working capital and GFRC needs to make short order of the price list posting project given the auction preparation work load. Any lot that is previewed in the Blog is fair game for a request, prior to price list posting, as the offer prices are now approved. The collection contents are posted at the Daily Blog's upper right as a scrollable table. Any quarter that is on hold will automatically be removed from this talbe.

Let's showcase two initial groups for your consideration. Clicking on both images will provide access to higher resolution versions. Offer prices will be promptly quoted if sending an email or text message request.

 

This group photo presents better dates including the rare 1849-O and a high grade 1856-S as just two of the offerings.

 

Tuesday's Blog edition will provide another tranche of group photos for consideration. As I said previously, both the consignore and GFRC are motivated to move these quarters to new homes. All we need at this point are willing buyers.

 

Wrapping Up The Blog

Another fantastic weather day is in store for southern Maine, therefore the balance of the Liberty Seated quarter photography will be completed during the late morning hours as clouds typical arrive after lunch.

I will be in the GFRC office the entire day. We have some morning shipping otherwise, I will be processing images and attempting to write a few more Fortin Seated dime descriptions as the day moves along.

Your incoming purchase orders would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you again for the visit.

Be well!

 

 

 

September 28, 2024

Preparing a Liberty Seated Quarter Collection

With 1858-S PCGS AU58 Lot

 

Greetings on the final weekend of September 2024 and welcome to the Daily Blog. Thank you for the ongoing readership.

One thing is for certain about the GFRC operation. The demand for GFRC services is consistent and unrelenting. The decision to enable GFRC-Lite under Rich Hundertmark's stewardship has allowed GFRC to focus on the higher end of the market. This should be readily apparent when reviewing the 30 Day Price List. Clients with substantial Liberty Seated, U.S. gold, and Barber coinage are approaching this service orientated platform for help in buying and selling their numismatic items. The market place is crowded with the growth of mega-firms that move large volumes. Here at GFRC, we offer personalized service for both collectors and consignors. Yes, the owner is in the store when calling...

Friday's attention shifted away from the GFRC Online Auctions platform to a consigned Liberty Seated quarter collection that has been patiently waiting for attention. Roughly half of the collection was priced on Friday and will be wrapped up today. While preparing the pricing proposal, die variety attribution were also completed along with GFRC quality ratings. The latter paramters have a material impact on the offer prices. As I worked through the collection, there were notable findings worthy of sharing today.

Up next are quick images of the 1838 and 1839 No Drapery lots. The 1838 is the rare Briggs 2-B Closed Claw reverse while the 1839 is the important Briggs 4-C Very Long Claws and a Top 25 Variety listing.

 

Then came a huge delight when reaching the 1858-S lot. This quarter is graded PCGS AU58 with a population of only two and only a single PCGS MS62 finer per the population reports. The most recent auction record for either of the two AU58s dates back to November 2014 for this lot with the following Heritage Auctions description.

1858-S 25C AU58 PCGS. Briggs 2-C. The typically small mintage of this S-mint issue was a mere 121,000 pieces, and all were needed as circulating coinage at that time in the booming towns and cities of Northern California; especially in San Francisco itself. This attractively toned example is the single finest-certified example at PCGS, where none have been graded in Mint State (10/14). In fact, PCGS has certified only seven examples at all numerical levels of AU. The design elements of this piece exhibit sharp definition, and no marks are individually noteworthy or distracting on either side. Deep gunmetal-gray and midnight-blue toning attests to the originality of the surfaces.

 

Today brings more attention to this collection towards completing the attributions and pricing proposal. Once the attributions are complete, I will turn on the Daily Blog preview function that will showcase the collection contents as a scrollable table in the upper right corner of the Blog.

As the clock is also running on the Fortin Seated Dime Collection auction lot preparations, therefore attention must also be provided to that project.

This is all the GFRC news worthy of sharing on an early Saturday morning. Again, we appreciate the visit.

Be well!

 

 

 

September 27, 2024

Fortin/Newtown Auction Descriptions Approaching the Finish Lines

 

 

Greetings and welcome to a brief Daily Blog edition on the final Friday of September 2024. Thanks for checking in.

Yes, October arrives next Tuesday and before long, we will be discussing GFRC's presence at the Manchester NH coin show followed by the Whitman Baltimore show and the subsequent drive to Venice, Florida. The next 60 days will be very busy, but what else is new for the Fortins and the GFRC platform?

October 1 also happens to be the day that a Town of Raymond official will conduct an inspection of the Maine Solar Solutions' Tesla battery and solar panel installation. Once the approval is granted, I will be writing a fairly large check to settle that balance. The system is operating as expected with one learning. Two Tesla Powerall3 batteries with integrated inverters require power to operate. That amount is roughly 90W/Hr that must be replenished when daylight appears. Currently, the two Powerwall3 units absorb about 1.1KW from internal battery storage (23KW) during a 12 hours overnight when the panels are not generating.

Moving on to numismatics....

A reminder that checking your Junk or Spam email folders may be a wise move when working with online vendors. Yesterday brought an email from a consignor who noted that I had not responded to his emails and important questions going on several weeks. At this point, the community knows that my response time is quite prompt and within an hour's time if I'm in the office. Worse case is an overnight if the email requests arrive after 8:00 PM. The issue with this consignor was that my emails were being directed into his Junk folder. I am to the point with Hotmail that the Inbox and Junk folders are constantly checked in parallel, as a proactive part of customer communications. My advice is to always check both folders and never assume that your email browser is 100% accurate in sorting the wheat from the chaff.

Yesterday's 1863-S dime back story brought much positive feedback, therefore I will be writing a few more stories in the coming weeks. One is about the 1846 PCGS MS63 CAC dime that is Gardner/D.L.Hansen. That piece could have been Fortin leaving these two gentlemen without an Mint State example. Decisions do have consequences.

 

Fortin/Newtown Auction Descriptions Approaching the Finish Lines

There is little to share this morning as Thursday brought a full day of auction description generation in Raymond and in Chicago.

The Fortin Seated dime descriptions are now complete through 1876-S along with posted reserves. I've found myself sharing insights for each date including when I believe the price guides have a mintage bias. What is a "mintage bias"? This is when a price guide firm will set blanket prices for high mintage "common" dates without checking surviving populations. One example is the 1875-S Below Wreath, the more available of the two two mintmark placements for that year. Total CAC population is 27 approved with two in MS66 and a single MS67. The two MS66 examples have a price guide number of $1950 which is a bargain. For the In Wreath variety, there are three approved in MS66 and none finer. Those three finest examples have a suggested market value of $4500 while the date has a total CAC approved population of only 19. These population numbers rival key dates in other Seated series at much higher prices. The issue with the 1875-S Seated dime date is that over 9 million were struck and is viewed as a "common date". Let's close with the thought that high grade Mint State 1875-S dime are underrated in today's market and a true bargain.

Len has taken the Newtown descriptions through the key 1878-S date and will complete the collection during the weekend. Of course, a book has been written for the 1878-S as expected at its price point.

If having time on your hands, a visit to the GFRC Online Auctions catalog will provide for some insightful numismatic reading.

 

What's Happening with Gold?

On Thursday, the gold futures market broken through the $2,700 mark for the first time. Following is a Kitco News article written by Gary Wagner discussing the event.

In a landmark moment for the precious metals market, gold futures have soared to unprecedented heights, breaching the psychologically significant threshold of $2,700 per ounce. This remarkable achievement not only sets a new record for gold but also marks the highest monetary value ever reached by any precious metal (gold, silver, platinum, and palladium) in history.

On a pivotal trading day, the most active December contract for gold futures opened at $2,681.20 and, after some fluctuation, settled at $2,695.10, registering a notable gain of $13.80 or 0.51%. The intraday high of $2,708.70 per troy ounce stands as a testament to gold's enduring appeal as a safe-haven asset. This unprecedented price level underscores gold's intrinsic worth while simultaneously highlighting the eroding confidence in global fiat currencies.

The steady ascent of gold prices can be attributed to a confluence of factors, of which recent interest rate decisions by central banks have played a crucial role. The Federal Reserve's recent 50 basis point cut to its benchmark Fed funds rate, bringing it to a range between 4.75% and 5%, has been a significant catalyst. This move, echoed by other central banks worldwide, has fueled the precious metal's rally.

Market sentiment suggests further rate cuts are on the horizon. The CME FedWatch Tool indicates a 51.1% probability of another 50-basis point cut at the Federal Reserve's upcoming November 7 FOMC meeting, with the remaining 48.9% favoring a 25-basis point reduction. This anticipation of continued monetary easing has bolstered gold's appeal as a hedge against potential currency devaluation.

Investors are now keenly awaiting the release of the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) report, a key inflation indicator closely monitored by the Federal Reserve. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal project a continued contraction in annual core inflation, forecasting a decline to 2.2% in August from 2.5% in July. Such a trend would mark a significant deceleration from the 40-year high recorded in June 2022 and could further strengthen the case for additional rate cuts.

The Core PCE Price Index for August is expected to show a modest 0.2% increase month-over-month and a 2.7% rise year-over-year. These core figures, which exclude volatile food and energy prices, are particularly significant as they represent the Federal Reserve's preferred gauge of inflation.

As gold continues its historic run, market participants are closely monitoring these economic indicators and central bank policies. The precious metal's performance reflects not only its traditional role as a store of value but also the complex interplay of global economic forces shaping today's financial landscape. 

As of 7:15 AM this morning, spot gold is trading at $2668 on the London Exchange with the August inflation number dropping in a few hours.

 

Wrapping Up The Blog

I'm planning on a description writing break today as we are in good shape at this point. Like Len, I will complete the descriptions this weekend.

Of top priority is some exercise as I've been sitting much too long at the office desk during the past 48 hours. Otherwise, the focus shifts to the new Liberty Seated quarter collection consignment with a pricing proposal and image processing being the next steps.

Thank you as always for making the Daily Blog a regular part of your numismatic day.

Be well!

 

 

 

September 26, 2024

Fortin's Gold CAC 1863-S Dime - The Back Story

 

Greetings on a wet Thursday morning and welcome to the Daily Blog. We appreciate the fact that everyone is staying close to the Daily Blog while I work through the preparations of a huge 2025 auction event.

Something is going on in the precious metals markets as I've often discussed here at the Blog. While composing today's edition, gold is trading at $2671/oz and silver is quoting at $32.25. The upward movement appears to be relentless with the gold and silver miners also making their moves. The answer is that these commodities are under own by the investment communities in the west. If a sentiment shift does take place, then watch out above...

Wednesday brought another day in the office writing descriptions for the Fortin Collection. Little else took place, therefore there is little to share. A good numismatic friend called this past weekend and suggested that I write back stories about certain dimes in my collection. This was a great idea and leads to today's headline topic.

 

Fortin Gold CAC 1863-S Dime - The Back Story

When assembling the Fortin Liberty Seated Dime collection, there were goals. Two of the most important goals centered on the Civil War era San Francisco issues and the "big four" Carson City dates.

Concerning the Civil War era San Francisco struck dimes, they appeared to be inexpensive in Mint State when considering the surviving populations. During the early 2000 time frame, the TPGs and population reports had been around for 10+ years, therefore there was credible data to work with. The 1860-S through 1867-S dates appeared to be excellent values on an investment basis. The key was purchasing the absolute finest examples that would appear on the market. Yes, I was not afraid to pay whatever price it took to secure my targeted specimens since operating with the belief that the series was a bargain at those pricing levels. An inspection of these Fortin auction lots bares witness to the fact that the plan was well executed.

Today, let's discuss how the purchase of the 1863-S PCGS Gold CAC dime came about.

It was 2004 and I have just published and launched The Definitive Resource for Liberty Seated Dime Variety Collectors reference in CDROM format with a subscription based access approach for the online version. I have invested $10,000 into the project by using Fairchild Semiconductor's marketing and public relations firm to design and construct the website with accompanying graphics.

The launch occured at the August 2004 World's Fair of Money which took place in Pittsburgh, PA. Prior to the event, I had made appointments to meet with Heritage Auctions' Greg Rohan and American Numismatic Rarities' Q. David Bowers to demo a high tech Liberty Seated Dime die variety reference that could be run on a laptop computer at a coin show rather than carrying heavy books. I won't go into those specific meetings other than saying that I spent much time with Frank Van Valen at ANR before speaking with David Bowers. The time with Frank at the Pittsburgh ANA became instrumental in the purchase of the 1863-S dime.

Fast forward to late August 2004 and the announcement of the Frog Run Farm Sale being held by ANR at the end of November 2004. The Frog Run Farm Sale contained a host of important Liberty Seated dime lots including a PCGS MS62 1856-S dime, an 1863-S NGC MS63 example, and an 1865-S NGC MS63 among many other notable offerings. This was a sale that I had been waiting for in terms of acquiring top end San Francisco Mint issues. I picked up the phone and called ANR to make an appointment to drive to Wolfsboro, NH for a private viewing session of the Frog Run Farm Seated dimes.

The day arrived in mid September and off I went to New Hampshire in the top down Miata. It was a lovely sunny day and ideal for a numismatic trip to Lake Winnipesauke and an ANR viewing session. I arrived early into Wolfsboro and had lunch at a downtown diner. Then came the drive to the ANR site where I was greeted by Frank Van Valen at the entrance of a huge Victorian era mansion on the shores of the lake. The location was quite impressive. Frank takes me into a large room filled with amazing antique furniture and asks me to wait while he pulled the appropriate auction inventory boxes containing the Liberty Seated dimes. Once back in the room, Frank proceeds to close all the curtains rendering the room dark with only two lamps at a viewing table, one for Gerry and another for Frank. We spent the entire afternoon collectively viewing all the Frog Run Farm Seated dimes in what turned out to be the most memorable auction lot viewing session within a long numismatic career. I took a host of notes and made it clear to Frank that I would be buying the 1863-S dime as an unquestionable gem in its current NGC MS63 holder. We parted ways with the drive back to Raymond being a numismatic high.

The Frog Run Farm auction was held in Baltimore from November 30 through December 1. I took the train from Portland Maine, through NYC Central Station, and finally into Baltimore. Gerry was on a mission. The auction session arrived with the usual named dealers in the room including Liz Coggan for JJ Teaparty and Jason Carter to name a few. I took a seat in the back of the room with bidder card #1286 and purchased a number of other Liberty Seated dime lots prior to the 1863-S being offered. My presence in the room was being noted as I scored lots. Finally, the 1863-S dime hits the block with aggressive bidding from the dealers in the audience. Frank Van Valen is calling the auction, at this point, and watching me for the anticipated bid. The bidding goes quiet at slightly under $9000 or so. Frank is looking at me as he starts to call that the lot is going to be sold at the current high bid. Going Once, Going Twice, and up goes my bidder card. Frank called my bid as the high bid and closes the lot. Everyone was in shock including myself! I distinctly remember Jason Carter turning around and just shaking his head and indicating how undergraded this lot was. It was a PRICELESS moment and one that will stay with me until the grave arrives. Here is that dime that was subsequently upgraded to PCGS MS64 along with Gold CAC approval during late 2014.

1863-S PCGS MS64 Gold CAC 10C

 

Wrapping Up The Blog

Well, that about does it for today. I hope that this edition was entertaining and worth the time taken for the visit.

Be well!

 

 

 

September 25, 2024

Firing Up the Wood Stove

Spot Gold Attains $2664 Record High

and

An Unique Cloud Image from Back Deck

 

Greetings and welcome to the Daily Blog on a cold southern Maine early Wednesday morning. Thank you for the visit.

Today's Blog edition will be brief as there is no prepared content. After uploading the second round of Newtown Liberty Seated Half Dollar auction lot descriptions, the focus shifted to photographing the balance of a recently consigned Liberty Seated quarter collection along with loading the individual lots into the COIN system. Those task took the entire afternoon and here we are again at the following day's early morning hours.

October is less than a week away at this point with the Maine weather becoming seasonally cold. Clouds and rain are forecasted for today and tomorrow along with temps in the 50s. The time has come to clean out the wood stove and build the first fire of the autumn season. Actually, I'm looking forward to this task once the Blog is uploaded. There is nothing like a warm hearth in the homestead.

The important news of the day is that spot gold attained yet another record high on Tuesday. The yellow precious metal climbed to $2664/oz. Silver is also exhibiting new momentum with a price at or close to $32/oz.

Yesterday brought a dinner party event with Steve and Lou Ann hanging out in the gazebo for happy hour, then the sun room for a grilled scallops dinner, and concluding with an Eric Clapton/Cream video session in the basement sound room. It was much fun to reconnect with local friends from the Raymond Little League coaching years.

While grilling on the back deck, as the sun set on the opposite side of the house, this never before seen cloud formation was noted and captured. This cloud ran well beyond the edges of the cell phone camera in both directions The clear and straight delineation of the cloud was quite the sight. This image also provides a record of the emerging autumn foliage colors and a view into the 2024 progress with the back acreage landscaping. Clicking on the image will provide access to a higher resolution version.

 

Wrapping Up The Blog

After firing up the wood stove, there is shipping with the balance of the day working in the GFRC office. There are incremental Fortin Collection descriptions to prepare and Seated quarter image processing to get done. I'm will be more than happy to discuss a purchase from our price lists via phone or email.

Again, thank you for making the Daily Blog a regular part of your numismatic reading.

Be well!

 

 

 

September 24, 2024

Newtown Liberty Seated Half Dollar Auction - Descriptions Posting Through 1873

Fortin Seated Dime Auction Descriptions Completed Through 1870

NCIC Press Release - Coin Dealers Being Target by Organized Crime

and

Carlo and Gerry Discussion?

 

Greetings on an autumn 2024 Tuesday morning and welcome to the Daily Blog. Thank you for visiting.

Today's Blog will be fast paced without any fluff content. The day started with the elimination of a squirrel that had just come off our roof. With installed solar panels and interconnect wiring, any squirrel that attempts roof access via our pancake hemlock or the large neighboring maple must be dealt with. This was the case when seeing a squirrel dropping off the roof from the office window. The Gamo air rifle did it job.

GFRC has enjoyed a U.S. gold price list sales run during the past 48 hours. We have sold three $2.5 CAC gold lots and four $10 gold pieces. The silver price lists are quiet.

 

Newtown Liberty Seated Half Dollar Auction - Descriptions Posting Through 1873

Len Augsburger has completed the Newtown Liberty Seated Half Dollar auction lot descriptions through 1873 No Arrows. A second input template was sent after this morning's breakfast for the transfer into the COIN database and posting to the online catalog. These will be uploaded once Len responds.

 

Fortin Seated Dime Auction Descriptions Completed Through 1870

I'm pleased to report that the Gerry Fortin Seated Dime auction descriptions and initial reserves are complete through 1870. At this point, I will be skipping ahead to those dates that will be featured in the Fall Gobrecht Journal edition followed by writing a thorough collection introduction that will do double duty for that article and the GFRC Online Auctions web pages.

 

NCIC Press Release - Coin Dealers Being Target by Organized Crime

The following press release from the Numismatic Crime Information Center is disturbing. Following is the entire document.

**Coin Dealers Targeted by Organized Crime Groups Following Coin Show Attendances**

Coin dealers across the nation have become the latest victims of organized crime, facing targeted attacks following their attendance at coin shows. In light of the recent criminal activity within the past ninety days, the Numismatic Crime Information Center is issuing a warning to coin show dealers and promoters to remain vigilant and take proactive security measures.

Reports received by NCIC in the last 90 days show a spike in brazen thefts indicating a disturbing pattern: after dealers participating in coin shows have fallen prey to orchestrated criminal activities. NCIC has been closely tracking the recent spike and analyzing similarities in coin show related offenses that have occurred across the country. Currently NCIC is assisting law enforcement agencies in Illinois, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland and Tennessee.

"Organized crime groups have been identified as the perpetrators," remarked Doug Davis, Founder and President for NCIC. These incidents have not only resulted in substantial financial losses for dealers but have also posed significant safety risks to dealers  and collectors alike.

The aftermath of such incidents extends beyond mere financial loss. Many dealers report emotional distress and a sense of vulnerability, fearing for their safety and the security of their businesses. The impact reverberates throughout the entire numismatic community, eroding trust and tarnishing the enjoyment of what is otherwise a cherished hobby.

NCIC is working closely with law enforcement agencies who are actively investigating these crimes and providing additional investigative resources and expertise, recognizing the need for swift action to apprehend those responsible and stem the tide of criminal activity targeting coin dealers.

"We are committed to working closely with law enforcement and numismatic industry partners to address this alarming trend," affirmed Doug Davis. "Together, we must remain vigilant and resilient in the face of these challenges, preserving the integrity of the numismatic industry."

In response to these developments, organizers of coin shows are urged to prioritize security arrangements and provide a safe environment for dealers and attendees. Additionally, coin collectors are encouraged to remain cautious and report any suspicious activity to authorities promptly.

The numismatic community stands united in condemning these reprehensible acts and remains steadfast in its commitment to promoting the joy of numismatics while safeguarding the well-being of its members.

Carlo and Gerry Discussion?

Bottom line, Carlo punted as unsure where to go next on recession fears and Gerry expanded his gold ETF position.

It was clear that my money manager has little knowledge of the gold market and the current pricing discovery transition from west to east. The questions being asked upon sharing my insights concerning gold were much too rudimentary to indicate a grasp of the asset. Gold has outperformed all major stock market indices during the pat 12 months but the cable business news channels hardly make mention of this fact. Instead, they will often discuss Bitcoin, a digital asset. This was the question posed to Carlo. Why does gold not secure any attention as a Tier 1 asset per the Bank of International Settlements and equivalent to U.S. Treasury bonds as a financial instrument? Could it be that a rising gold price is indicative of a depreciating U.S. dollar, a topic that should not be discussed by the mainstream media?

The Carlo situation is representative of the western public and investors that have little knowledge and holdings of the asset as compared to China, Russia, and India citizenry who see the asset as wealth. Combined population for these three countries is nearly 3 billion people as compared to 333 million in the United States. This fact should be thought provoking....

 

Wrapping Up The Blog

That is a wrap for today's edition. Thank you for taking the time to stop in and learn of the latest GFRC and homestead news.

Be well!

 

 

September 23, 2024

Another Day of Auction Descriptions

and

Meeting with Carlo

 

Greetings on a Monday morning and welcome to the Daily Blog. As always, your patronage is welcomed and appreciated.

The northern New England autumn transition is currently underway. The "Indian Summer" temperatures of the past week are gone with seasonality returning. The current temperature is 45F with the week's highs forecasted in the 60s. The days are quickly growing shorter too. The key indicator of the forthcoming foliage season is the driveway maple that has fully shifted to orange-red with leaves already beginning to drop. By early October, it will be time to start the wood stove. Actually, I'm looking forward to burning wood prior to departing for Florida come the Whitman Baltimore show.

As today's headlines indicates, today brings more of the same. There is morning shipping followed by a conference call with Carlo for money management matters. Afterwards, it is back to preparing auction descriptions.

 

Another Day of Auction Descriptions

The weekend brought a notable amount of progress for both the Newtown and Gerry Fortin Seated collection auction descriptions. The Newtown descriptions are moving forward based on my interactions with Len. The community does not have access to the Newtown's incremental descriptions as these are posted as one large dump. Conversely, I am writing the Seated dime descriptions directly into the COIN database and conducting an upload after every 2-3 lots being completed. Since being dyslexic, it is difficult to see my mistakes in the Excel formula box but they are glaring once posted within the online catalog.

As of last evening, the Seated dimes have been completed through 1868-S. Today's effort will move into the 1870s with the all important big four Carson City dates being the prime focus. Once the catalog is populated through 1874, I will most likely take a break and shift attention to the GFRC consignment queue. There are several major consignments that need serious attention. The reason for taking a break after the 1874 date is that my obligations to the the Liberty Seated Collectors Club forthcoming Fall Gobrecht Journal will have been nearly met. Twenty of the Fortin dimes will be featured in the Journal's centerfold along with a supporting article. Embedded in that article will be the auction lot descriptions. The preparation of the article should not take more than a day.

 

Meeting with Carlo

This morning's conference call with Carlo is seen as an important milestone with respect to our equity, bond, and precious metals portfolio. The Fed's 50 basis point interest rate cut was a strong signal that economic slow down is underway. There are a host of indicators that can be cited that predict a forthcoming recession. I won't go into those in this Blog edition as I've not prepared research notes. As far as I'm concerned, the U.S. economy is slowing down with China and Germany already there. Before the Powell interest rate cut announcement last week, Carlo and I took the accounts into a quite conservative position with respect to equities as investor response to the FOMC rate cut was an unknown. After the announcement, stocks rallied strong on Thursday and were slightly down on Friday. This morning's market futures are slight up but not by much.

Carlo is of the belief that the Federal Reserve will do whatever it takes to support the equity markets and investor sentiment. Powell's announcement of a half point cut on Wednesday with another half point by end of year was atypical. The clarity indicates to Carlo that the Fed has the investor's back while I see the announcement as a swift dose of medicine to ensure that the economy does not slide into a deeper recession. The issue is herd mentality. If the herd is entirely focused on the Federal Reserve with bad news being good news for cheap money, then Carlo has a strong position. If stock evaluation fundamentals are driving the market, then I'm probably right as we are already seeing revenue erosion at top firms. An over valued market can push forward for longer than expected but when the shoe drops, everyone runs for the exit at once.

One thing is for sure. I will be adding more capital into gold. Gold continues to fly under the cable news and social media radar screen but is one of the top performing assets of 2024. Just like the major cable news outlets are stacked in favor of the blue presidential candidate (shame on you ABC), the same is true for gold. It seems like no one wishes to discuss the BRICS settlement currency developments and the rapid movement of physical gold from western to eastern central bank vaults. One must go to YouTube to learn of these developments from the whistle blowers who are not afraid to speak out. The days of the Federal Reserve and major banks being able to suppress the price of gold through shorting on the LBMA and COMEX are coming to an end with gold currently in a repricing cycle.

Fundamentally, gold is rising as valued in U.S. dollars. When the price of gold rises, this translate into a debased U.S. dollar and an associated loss in buying power. One can see why the western central banks wish to keep the price of gold, as measured in U.S. dollars, down while the physical moves to the wiley central planners in China and Russia. Dollar debasement (inflation) is occurring in front of our eyes but the elite class does not wish for us to notice. Actually, China and Russia are buying gold at a discounted price until the Federal Reserve and major banks charade is exhausted.

 

Wrapping Up The Blog

Diane has once again been summoned for jury selection this morning which leaves me to handle the shipping on a solo basis. Therefore, let's wrap up here so I can get into the shower and move forward with another day in the GFRC office.

Thanks again for the visit.

Be well!

 

 

September 22, 2024

Writing Your Own Collection's Auction Catalog?

and

Progress in the Backyard

 

Greetings and welcome to the Daily Blog on a Sunday morning. Thank you for the visit.

A mental break was necessary on Saturday morning and the reason for going silent without advanced notice. Much is being processed and contemplated of late. I will discuss the challenge of preparing a personal auction catalog in a moment. But these is more...

The Federal Reserves 0.5% interest cut on Thursday has also brought reflections on financial goals and when and how to reconfigure our investments. There are similarity in preparing a personal auction catalog and also being actively involved in managing one's own wealth. Both require research of historical records but in completely different genres. Serious research takes time and I will leave it at that. Come Monday, Carlo and I will meet to discuss the restructuring of a financial portfolio. Probabilities, risk assessments, and market psychology discussions will be had rather the standard focus on Price to Earning ratios and the like.

By mid-afternoon each day, my mind is typically exhausted with the need for time outdoors to feel one with nature. The beauty and simplicity of managing land is therapeutic. This will be today's second topic.

 

Writing Your Own Collection's Auction Catalog?

There is a good reason why nearly all collectors employ numismatic auction houses to sell a substantial collection. Considerable expertise is required to accomplish the feat of auction catalog preparations along with the entire marketing and sales effort.

My decision to prepare a personal auction catalog was certainly atypical. An easier route would have been to hire Len Augsburger to not only prepare the Newtown Liberty Seated Half Dollar descriptions, but to also handle the Fortin Seated Dime Collection. However, there was a desire for closure of a nearly life long journey by documenting that collection. The issue is that documenting is not as easy as it seems when browsing through a major auction house catalog. Professional catalogers possess a host of skills that us mortals might not be unaware of. Numismatic prose is its own art form. Catalogers have color wheels and Thesaurus at their immediate disposable. A vast numismatic library of old auction catalog is also paramount for researching prior auction histories.

In the week or so, I've become immersed in the professional cataloging realm and the process is mentally challenging in the midst of operating GFRC and doing all the stuff that is on a regular daily agenda. Writing one's own auction catalog is truly a unique adventure and journey. Setting the auction reserves further adds to the research and contemplation.

As of this morning, the online auction catalog for the Fortin Seated dimes is complete through 1862 Philadelphia and 1855-S for the Newtown Seated halves. Len and I are in constant contact with respect to the Newtown auction lots as we validate attributions and other pedigree assertions. I'm on my own for the same with respect to the dimes.

I believe the final end product will be strong for both collections. It goes without saying that the Newtown Collection is being cataloged by one of the best in the business. My challenge is to catalog the Fortin Collection to an equivalent standard.

 

Progress in the Backyard

Come 3:00 PM each day, mental therapy takes place. The dusty work clothes are retrieved from a special hamper and off I go to the backyard to relax with Johnny2 while shaping the backyard into a special piece of natural art. The alloted time is two hours per day as 5:00 PM brings a hard stop and happy hour with Diane.

The current focus has been landscaping the ugly low lying area behind the new gazebo. following are four images that document the transformation since mid-July.

This first image documents the area behind the settler's stone wall on July 11. This was the point at which the supposed "shrub garden" area was completed. Note the area behind the new shrub garden pad (now a gazebo pad) with several piles of fill and a rough natural look.

Once that fill was spread, the rains came and turned that back area into a wet eroded mess as documented here. Dave Wilkinson brought a load of loam tailings to fill in the low area as shown. The finger in the image was necessary to block early morning light reflections. Ultimately, the fix was digging that area out and installing a large drainage ditch.

Dave Wilkinson was on site in late August with the drainage ditch area cleared and the various drainage channels installed.

And finally, an image taken yesterday afternoon of the transformation. It has been quite the journey since mid-July. The golden colored areas are straw over recently seeded lawn with a hint of greens starting to appear. Brown wood chips have been employed as the mulch under the showcased maples trees and to coat the large rocks in the drainage ditch.

 

Wrapping Up The Blog

Once today's Blog is uploaded, I'm heading for a quick shower followed by time in the office preparing another round of auction lot descriptions for the Gerry Fortin Seated Dime Collection. Blog readers are invited to follow along by clicking on the above auction link banner.

Thank you again for the visit.

Be well!

 

 

 

September 20, 2024

A Little to Share Blog...

 

Greetings on a Friday morning.

There is little to share today. September numismatic sales remain anemic and may hit an end month total not seen since 2019. Five new lots were added to the 30 Day Price List during the overnight if you are inclined to visit.

Gold is trading at $2610/oz in London while silver is at $31.22.

My focus remains on Gerry Fortin Liberty Seated Dime Collection lot descriptions as I have an LSCC Gobrecht Journal timeline to meet. I just don't see the need to spend valuable time creating content given the current circumstances.

Thank you for checking in.

Be well!

 

 

 

September 19, 2024

Newtown Liberty Seated Half Dollar Collection Auction Update

Fortin Seated Dime Collection Auction Descriptions to Enjoy

and

Two Important PCGS MS64 CAC Lots Arrive - First Shot?

 

Greetings on an autumn Thursday morning and welcome to the Daily Blog. We appreciate the ongoing visits.

Let see what happened in the past 24 hours...

President Trump did a spot on Gutfeld show. The Federal Reserve dropped its benchmark interest by 0.5%. Gold is attempting to break through the $2600 mark and morning market futures have the S&P500 up 1.7% at the opening bell which is contrary to my expectations. We live in exciting times.

Closer to home, there is some numismatic news to consider based on today's headlines. Let's jump right into those topics.

 

Newtown Liberty Seated Half Dollar Collection Auction Update

It appears that Len Augsburger does read the Daily Blog and captured my comment about doing a description drop for the Newtown Liberty Seated Half Dollar Collection auction lots. Len contacted me last evening for a input template file which I gladly prepared in a heartbeat. The Newtown descriptions from 1839 through 1855-S are done and sitting in my email Inbox. These will be posted once this Blog edition is uploaded.

I'm also in discussion with Len concerning holding two Zoom call sessions at some point during the balance of 2024 to review the forthcoming auctions. The Fortin dimes and the Newtown halves would see separate discussion sessions once all descriptions are posted. This would be an opportunity for the Liberty Seated community (and potential bidders) to meet the collection owners (Gerry and Aaron Heintz) followed by Gerry and Len taking questions about specific lots.

 

Fortin Seated Dime Collection Auction Descriptions to Enjoy

Wednesday brought yet another day with my Liberty Seated dime collection and moving down memory lane. Lot descriptions are now posted through 1853 dated dimes. Yes, I need to wrap up the 1853-O lot this morning as I was pretty much brain dead by 8:00 PM last evening.

The descriptions have proven to be an opportunity to share Mint State rarity insights similar to that of my third mentor, Jim O'Donnell. The difference is that my mentorship came in a verbal form from Jim at coin shows while today we have the internet and the ability to document my thoughts as part of an auction catalog. Call it a swan song event before my collecting retirement and the final sharing of years of observations. For example, did you realize that the 1848 and 1849 dates have nearly identical CAC populations but the 1849 date is priced roughly 60% lower than the 1848. The reason is price guides, and the market as a whole, operate with a mintage bias. If the 1849:1848 mintage ratio is 3:1, then the pricing needs to be set accordingly regardless of survival rates. Mintage biases are found throughout the Liberty Seated dime series and its takes years of observational study to identify those underrated dates.

As descriptions are being written, I'm also posting the first pass reserve prices. Here is a novel thought... If you believe that my reserve, for any date, is incorrect, then please make on argument on what the number should be with a detailed justification. Sure, everyone wants lower reserves towards the hope for securing a bargain. This is how dealers operating at the major auctions with the hope of ripping a coin or two that goes under the radar screen. The loser in the process in the collector as the auction houses make their commission at whatever the final hammer number is. GFRC Online Auctions are different and designed to protect the collector from being ripped on a coin. The reserves are set at fair market value and if there is strong demand for certain dates or superb gems, the bidding goes from there.

I've set the reserves for the Fortin Seated dimes at what I believe they are worth in today's market. If I've made a mistake in judgment, let me know but be ready to make your case.

Today brings yet another description writing session and I hope to move through the balance of the 1850s dates. Please check back tomorrow to see where we are at.

 

Two Important PCGS MS64 CAC Lots Arrive - First Shot?

Consignments continue to be delivered by Doug the Mailman while I'm preparing auction descriptions. Yesterday brought the arrival of two really cool lots that need their own Blog segment.

Both lots are low five figure items and will be photographed today. The 1833 Capped Bust quarter is B-1 with three lines in the shield while the 1878-S is from a single die pair and mintage of 140,000. The 1833 quarter is CAC population four with a single MS66 finer while the 1878-S is CAC population two with a single MS65 finer. The CAC price guide for both is $10,500.

If wishing to enjoy first shot, simply send me an email to start the discussion between you and the consignor.

 

Wrapping Up The Blog

Well, the shipping queue is again empty as the order rate continues to be anemic. Maybe the FOMC 0.5% rate cut will help the situation and allow collectors to open their wallets a bit?

GFRC has a host of great coins on the price list, many with price reductions as consignors are motivated to sell their existing items towards purchasing upgrades. This is how the numismatic market should operate. Collectors continually build a collection through date filling and upgrades until the collection is deemed complete. At that point, the collection is sold, with die hard collectors pursuing a new goal or taking the monies for another of life's opportunities. My role is to support collector needs and ensuring that coins are sold at fair market prices with the best possible commission rates and service. It is that simple.

Thanks again for the visit.

Be well!

 

 

September 18, 2024

Staying Focused on Fortin Auction Descriptions

 

Greetings and welcome to the Daily Blog on a Wednesday morning. Thank you for the visit.

The autumn color transition is now underway here in southern Maine. The driveway maple is already 30% of the way to peak colors with pretty orange hues while the birches are shifting to yellow tones.

Tuesday brought a fabulous autumn day with a high of 80F. After uploading the day's Blog edition, I went down to the pond for another algae clearing session. A recently purchase ultra strong pole allowed for dragging the entire bottom of the pond and removing the accumulated algae growth. The summer of 2025 will see a substantial expansion effort with the goal of tripling the current pond's size, digging it deeper, and connecting to a more active spring.

Most of Tuesday was spent writing auction descriptions for my personal Seated dime collection. Descriptions and initial reserves are posted through the 1847 date. Yes, I am having fun writing these descriptions as they are my coins and I can discuss whatever thoughts or stories that come to mind. There is a benefit to being self accountable. As for the reserves, some might find them staggering but who else understands the Liberty Seated dime market better than the primary dealer in that space? I hope that readers will find time to visit the auction link and to gander at the current progress. Today brings more of the same and I hope to prepare descriptions and reserves through the 1853 dates.

Tuesday also brought a photography session for the recently arrived Liberty Seated quarter collection as the bright sunshine was the perfect enabler.

Solar generation is topping out at a consistent 35-36KW per day during bright sunny days with 2/3 being exported to the grid. I'm so relieved to have this project in the homestead history books.

GFRC sales have gone fairly quiet after a buying spurt during the weekend. A visit to the 30 Day Price List will illustrate this fact.

Gold is trading at $2580 in London while silver is selling at $30.68. The equity and bond markets are waiting for the Federal Reserve interest rate cut announcement. Will it be 0.25% or 0.50%? The 10 Year Treasury bond yield has moved down to 3.67% in anticipation of lower interest rates.

It is 7:00 AM and time to prepare a few more descriptions prior to a short stint in the shipping department.

Thanks again for checking in.

Be well!

 

 

 

September 17, 2024

Gerry Fortin Liberty Seated Dime Collection

Auction Descriptions and Reserves Being Populated

 

Greetings on an autumn Tuesday morning and welcome to the Daily Blog. Your ongoing visits are certainly appreciated.

Don't you hate those automatic Microsoft updates of your operating system? Most times the updates are benign and of no obvious consequence. Last evening brought another update as part of shutting down the Dell XPS laptop and heading to bed. I arose at 4:00 AM with the intention of writing more auction descriptions now that I've found my groove based on yesterday's efforts. This is the headline topic that will be covered shortly. The laptop is fired up and the COIN database (a 33Mbyte Excel file) is opened with good intentions. What a surprise to find that the font in the formula bar had been changed by the Microsoft update to widely spaced characters that were unusable for writing descriptions directly into the database. After several Google queries, I learned of the Excel Options link and the ability to control the font within the formula bar and experimented with different fonts before locating something usable. The lost time amounted to 45 minutes and forgoing several incremental descriptions. On a positive note, another facet of the Excel application is now understood.

Today's edition has little fresh content other than the headline topic. It has been months since visiting with Seth Godin so why not head to his website? The time taken was worthwhile as this little piece illustrates the GFRC philosophy with respect to marketing and selling coins. I make a point of not pushing clients or new customers towards a purchase. If the time is right, collectors will indeed step up and buy a coin or two for whatever collecting goals are being pursued. Pushing or convincing clients to tender a purchase is contrary to how I wished to be treated when previously building more own collection. A dealer with a hard sell is a red flag in my book. Seth Godin touches upon the topic and takes its a step further. Please read on.

Seth Godin Blogpost - Bye now

The difference between ‘buy now’ and ‘bye now’ is very thin.

Sometimes, when we push very hard for a commitment, we break the trust we’ve earned.

For a while, you might not notice the broken trust, because we’re encouraged to keep pushing, treating every individual as a walking ATM, not a relationship to be nurtured and a person to be helped.

Soon, though, you run out of the gullible and all you’re left with is distrust.

Yes, coin dealers already enjoy a negative reputation with many new collectors due to unscrupulous sales methods. At GFRC, we attempt to accurately describe offered coins as I see a return as a failure on my part to ensure client satisfaction. Certain dealers will tout their ability to have less than ideal coins "stick" with a customer. This is the last thought on my mind as building a relationship with collectors is critical for business and hobby longevity. GFRC continues to do well due to the support of repeat customers and consignors. It is that plain and simple.

 

Gerry Fortin Liberty Seated Dime Collection - Auction Descriptions and Reserves Being Populated

After a substantial shipping event on Monday morning, the entire afternoon was dedicated to writing auction descriptions for my personal Seated Dime collection.

Preparing auction descriptions can be mentally challenging especially when discussing the attributes of less than stellar coins. However, for the Fortin Collection, the opposite is true. How do I keep the discussion under control if wishing to prepare auction catalogs that are financial feasible to print. The more I ramble about the Fortin coins, the higher the printing costs. Thus was the challenge that framed my prose on Monday afternoon.

It was also decided to set the auction lot reserve prices while preparing the descriptions as all the available price guides and research material had opened links on the browser. Why not kill two birds with one stone?

As of this morning's Blog, the descriptions and reserves have been posted for the 1837 through 1842 dates which totals 15 dimes. I do reserve the right to fine tune the descriptions and the reserve prices in the coming months as what you see today is a first shot. Publishing reserve prices this early in the auction marketing process will allow clients to gain a sense of how deep they must dig into their wallets or bank accounts to secure their targeted lots. Being aware of the reserve numbers well in advance of the 2025 auctions also allows clients to take necessary fund raising steps by selling duplicates or portions of collections that are no longer core to their ultimate goals. I am expecting an increased amount of consignments during the fourth quarter of 2024 for this reason.

While the Gerry Fortin Seated Dime auction descriptions are being ramped, Len Augsburger continues to push forward with the Newtown Liberty Seated Half Dollar Collection. Maybe next week, I can secure a portion of those descriptions for posting? What do you think Len?

Blog readers are invited to click on the above auction banners to visit the online auction catalog and reading the auction descriptions. There are some fun stories to be had along with numismatic insights.

 

Wrapping Up The Blog

Since the shipping queue is empty this morning, I'm heading upstairs for a quick shower and will be back in the office towards writing more auction descriptions. This is a long process as roughly four descriptions can be researched and written in a hour's time. Of course, there are the usual phone calls and emails competing for my attention while attempting to stay intensely focused on the task.

My plan is to stay the course on the auction descriptions this week as the 30 Day Price List is in great shape. There is little incentive to continue expanding inventory offerings when the September sales rate is seasonally slow. If wishing to make a purchase I'm all ears, but in the meantime, the auction lots will be garnering the majority of my attention.

Thank you so much for the ongoing visits.

Be well!

 

 

September 16, 2024

GFRC 30 Day Price Back Over 100 Lots

and

Last Call for Wisconsin Gold Consignment

 

Greetings and welcome to the Daily Blog as we enter the second half of September 2024. We appreciate the ongoing visits.

It was great to have a Daily Blog vacation day which allowed me to be out on Johnny2 by 7:00 AM on Sunday. As the back acreage enhancements continue, having a solid four hours of tractor time brought about incremental progress in several areas along with Kevin Johnson securing two more trailer loads of oak and maple logs. The weather was ideal for working outdoors. The afternoon was spent in the GFRC office writing descriptions leading to one of today's headlines.

Sunday also brought one of the best single day sales tallies outside of attending a coin show. The 1840 Dahlonega $2.5 sold along with the newly listed 1901-O O/Horizontal O Barber dime during the afternoon hours. Later in the day, I was able to reach a deal to move along the New Orleans Collection's 1899-O Barber dime graded PCGS MS66 CAC. The recently listed 1852 quarter was also scooped up by a new buyer.

The news cycle has shifted to a second Trump assassination attempt. When is this craziness going to stop. As I learned this morning, there have been nine assassinations or attempts of U.S. presidents since Abraham Lincoln being shot and killed at the Ford Theatre.

Southern Maine is enjoying a fantastic autumn season so far with bright sunny days. The new Fortin solar system is generating 35KW per day with the majority being pushed into the power grid and financially banked for the winter months. We are pleased with the installation and the comfort of having off-grid power capacity for when the new power outage arrives.

Let's move to the headlines...

 

GFRC 30 Day Price Back Over 100 Lots

Sunday afternoon brought an opportunity to catch-up on the consignment backlog with the New Orleans Collection lots being posted to the 30 Day Price List. In addition, a host of better date $2.5 Liberty gold offerings were also posted. As of this morning, there are 104 lots on the price list. I've also become aggressive with updating our presence on the Collectors Corner market place every few days with fresh inventory. This decision appears to be drawing some first time customers as most collectors will see a lot on Collectors Corner and then visit the dealer's website for a purchase.

What is next in the consignment queue?

The balance of the PCGS Set Registry Seated quarter collection arrived on Saturday and will move into the photography department at some point this week. Additional prework is necessary including a CAC restickering submission for about 10 lots that were reholdered. The collection must be loaded into the COIN system first for tracking and business insurance coverage purposes.

Also in the shipping queue are several consignments. The Lakeland Collection is shipping a 10+ piece lot. Also in transit today is a notable two piece lot; an 1833 PCGS MS64 CAC bust half and an 1878-S PCGS MS64 CAC Seated quarter. Yes, these will both be five figure offerings. Finally, an Isabella quarter and Lafayette dollar are also due to arrive in the next 48 hours.

However.....

My priority for the week is writing descriptions for the Gerry Fortin Liberty Seated Dime Collection. I've delayed this task long enough and must get going to meet the Liberty Seated Collectors Club schedule for publishing the Fall Gobrecht Journal issue. Starting this afternoon, I will be laser focused on my own personal collections and preparing a narrative for each lot. It is my way of saying goodbye to each dime.

 

Last Call for Wisconsin Gold Consignment

With spot gold trading at $2580/oz this morning in London, I still don't understand why collectors are not being more aggressive in adding bullion and numismatic gold to their wealth portfolios. Every time that a GFRC customer wishes to trade gold for a purchase, I'm all ears with the goal of increasing our physical gold stash. Would collectors have believed, at the start of 2024, that gold would be close to $2600 by mid September? $3000 gold does not appear to be out of the question in the coming months, especially after the mid-October BRICS summit. The Federal Reserve's first step in a new round of interest rate reductions is also quite bullish for gold. Sadly, the rising price of gold is a sign of the miserable state of the U.S. dollar in terms of purchasing power.

It is with this backdrop that we announce a final call by the Wisconsin Gold Collection for his remaining consigned lots. Our consignor has been patient and has provided several pricing reductions for his CAC approved gold lots. The point has come for a final discounted offering. If these four lots do not sell, they will be returned to the consignor, along with his non-CAC gold at the end of September. Of course, I would want to see these sold so that I can secure the commission associated with listing these lots to the price list and carrying them to multiple coin show during the past two years.

 

Last Call for Wisconsin Gold Consignment

      1894-O PCGS MS62 CAC G$10 - $3100                                           1909-S PCGS MS63+ CAC G$10 - $6950    

        

      1910-S PCGS MS63 CAC G$10 - $6950                                           1896 PCGS MS64 CAC G$20 - $5400    

        

 

What is Gerry Up To Today?

The morning hours will be entirely consumed with shipping including a new shipment of lower priced lots to GFRC-Lite. The latter requires much documentation and is time consuming. I also need to get those reholdered Seated quarters into CAC NJ for restickering. It will be lunch time before we realize how quickly the morning hours flew by.

The afternoon will find me in the office writing Fortin auction descriptions, plain and simple.

So ends today's Blog edition. Thank you for the visit.

Be well!

 

 

 

September 14, 2024

A Superb New Orleans Collection Consignment to Consider

and

GFRC Consignment Window is Closed

 

Greetings on a mid-September Saturday and welcome to the Daily Blog. Thank you for returning for another edition.

The first day of a solar powered homestead is now behind us. Debugging the installation and learning how to use the Tesla app were the priorities. The two Tesla Powerwall3 batteries were fully charged as of 1:00 PM Friday while the overall system delivered 5.4KW of peak power output during a cloudless bright sunny day. The rated capacity of the system is 7.15KW, which means we secured about 75% of the rated capacity on a near ideal day for power generation. This is bothering me as I was expecting closer to 90% or securing 6.5KW peak output. The difference between 5.4KW and 6.5KW is the equivalent of two PV panels. As I said, we are in the system debug phase. Today brings another bright day of full sunshine for recording peak output. Let's see if we again hit the 5.4K peak level or higher.

I did manage to get a health walk in yesterday with time spent cleaning the pond of newly fallen leaves and accumulated algae. The pond has become the home for roughly 20 or more frogs of various sizes. It is fun to arrive and the pond and see the local residents relaxing on the rocks behind jumping into the water once realizing my presence. What I've learned about the pond is that nature will take its own course regardless of my intended goal. The frogs have taken over and will be an amusing attraction for when the grandchildren visit the Maine homestead.

On the GFRC numismatic front, the New Orleans Collection's new consignment received top priority for a gallery showcase. The entire consignment is ready to be posted to the 30 Day Price List as the offer prices have been approved.

 

A Superb New Orleans Collection Consignment to Consider

As with many consignors, GFRC moves "up the ladder" with these individuals as each new consignment brings ever increasingly better lots. This is undoubtedly the case for today's gallery showcase courtesy of the New Orleans Collection as each offering is rated choice or gem original with all being at the Mint State level.

We open the display with two pieces of pure eye candy. The 1856-O F-104 dime is the repunched date up die variety and listed in the Top 100 Varieties set. What a beautiful example that is worthy of the finest collection being assembled, whether a circulation strike series or die variety centric. How about the 1860-O WB-10 half with its exceptional peripheral toning? The viewing pleasure is guaranteed to last for years!

The subsequent lots are also quite noteworthy with a pretty 1860-O PCGS MS66 half dime that sold within minutes of uploading the display to the server for debugging the image placements. The 1849-O F-103 Seated dime offering is a big deal as few have been certified in Mint State. This example has partially mirrored fields as is a joy to view under a bright light along with insights into the badly rust pitted motifs. Next is a four piece group of New Orleans struck Barber dimes with a cool 1901-O O/Horizontal O in the lot. This example is obviously in the condition census. We close the display with a crusty near-gem 1857-O half and a CAC approved 1908-O Barber half. The images are 100% accurate in terms of their in-hand visual appearance. These will be loaded to the price list at some point this weekend. In the mean time, don't be bashful about emailing me with a first shot or outright purchase request as was done with the 1860-O half dime.

 

A Superb New Orleans Collection Consignment to Consider

First Some Gem Eye Candy

      1856-O F-104 PCGS MS64 CAC 10C - $4250                                      1860-O WB-10 PCGS MS65 50C - $6250        

        

Followed by Choice/Gem Offerings

  1860-O V-1 PCGS MS66 CAC H10C - $2600                                         1849-O F-103 PCGS MS62 10C - $3500        

        

                 1897-O PCGS MS64 10C - $2850                                           1901-O O/Horizontal PCGS MS64 10C - $2750    

        

  1905-O PCGS MS66 CAC 10C OGH - $2650                                          1906-O PCGS MS66 10C - $1400              

        

  1857-O WB-3 PCGS MS64 50C - $6500                                           1908-O PCGS MS64 CAC 50C - $1600    

        

 

GFRC Consignment Window is Closed

I've been overwhelmed with a fresh consignment wave including a nearly complete Liberty Seated quarter collection. All of these consignments were unplanned and have impacted my ability to focus on the forthcoming Gerry Fortin and Newtown Seated coinage auction preparations. Len Augsburger is making great progress with the Newtown Seated Half Dollar descriptions while I've not even started writing descriptions for my own lots. Therefore, the consignment window must be immediately closed for new proposed consignments. All consignments that I have agreed to support, including those that are ready to ship, will be honored. Otherwise, I must respectfully declined any new proposals until the descriptions for the Gerry Fortin Liberty Seated Dime collections are completed along with setting the reserves for both the Fortin and Newtown Collections.

 

Wrapping Up The Blog

Another busy day in a life awaits me, therefore let's wrap up today's ramblings at this point. I'd like to wish the readership a wonderful early autumn weekend.

There will be no Daily Blog edition on Sunday morning as Kevin Johnson is returning early to load more freshly cut wood logs from the back acreage onto his trailer. I'd like to get an early morning start and not be encumbered by writing a Blog. Call it a vacation day with well deserved time on Johnny2 after yet another fast paced week.

We will therefore be back on Monday morning.

Be well!

 

 

 

September 13, 2024

Spot Gold Sets New Record High at $2573

A Luscious Better Date $2.5 Liberty Gold Offering

and

The Fortin Homestead Shifts to Solar Power

 

Greetings from the GFRC office on Friday the 13th and welcome to the Daily Blog. Thank you as always for the ongoing visits

Before going further, spot gold continues to climb and has set yet another new record price at the to $2573/oz in London trading. Silver is also reacting and is currently trading above $30/oz.

There are two main topics to cover in today's Blog edition. As I'm uploading a lovely group of $2.5 Liberty gold to the Hostway server, the Dell laptop is is running a cellphone mirroring app which is tuned into the Tesla Powerwall display for our new system. That should be enough of a clue concerning what will be discussed shortly.

But first, a word about the Great American Coin and Collectibles coin show that is taking place in Tampa. This is a brand new start-up September show. I spoke with a dealer who is active on the bourse yesterday and the comment was that this event is turning out to be a wholesale show. In other words, there is minimal retail attendance at the event. GFRC was approached to attend the event, but being September, the last thing I wished to do was to fly down to Tampa for roughly five days and be away from the autumn season in Maine. It was a good call as GFRC is mostly a retail dealer in support of its consignor base.

 

A Luscious Better Date $2.5 Liberty Gold Offering

GFRC is pleased to be showcasing the final installment of an old time $2.5 Liberty gold consignment that has been actively processed since mid-August.

Today's gallery features the lots that were judged to be potential CAC approval candidates and were shipped to Bedminster, NJ for review. Unfortunately, none of the lots were able to secure a green bean though offering noteworthy eye appeal. There are many better dates in this gallery and I hope that you will take the time to click on a few images to enjoy each gold piece via higher resolution images. Offer prices are listed for each coin. These will be posted to the 30 Day Price List during the next 24 hours or so. If there are any pieces of interest, please don't hesitate to send an email requesting first shot.

A Luscious $2.5 Liberty Gold Offering

            1840-C PCGS AU58 G$2.5 - $8500                                           1859-D PCGS AU50 G$2.5 Rattler - $7500    

        

   1870 PCGS MS61 G$2.5 - $7500                                                    1870 PCGS MS61 G$2.5 - $7000    

        

      1884 NGC MS63 G$2.5 - $5000                                                     1886 PCGS MS63 G$2.5 - $4500    

        

         1868 NGC MS60 G$2.5 - $2750                1880 PCGS AU55 G$2.5 OGH - $1650             1884 PCGS AU58 G$2.5 OGH - $1950  

                

 

The Fortin Homestead Shifts to Solar Power

After months of effort, another homestead project has been completed with a sigh of relief. The Fortin homestead has moved into the realm of self power generation as of 1:30 PM on Thursday. Maine Solar Solutions wrapped up the SEG PV panel installation at roughly noon time followed by Jim, the electrician, working through the Tesla Powerwall3 system connectivity to our router, software updates, and finally power generation to the two battery modules. Jim worked with us to configure the Tesla app on our cellphones and then processed to explain and test out the solar system operation. The Powerwall3 system can be configured in multiple operating modes which I will not discuss today. We made our configuration decision and off we went into the world of self power generation with off-grid capabilities in the event of a power outage. By the end of today, the batteries will be 100% charged and available as a back-up power source.

As the Blog is being typed at 7:00 AM, the thirteen 550W panels and Tesla system have started operating for the day with nearly 1KW of generation at sunrise. The first system priority is to charge the two 11.5KW batteries to 100% followed by utilizing the excess power for home requirements along with pushing the balance into the Central Maine Power grid. It is an elegant system.

Here is an image of the system as installed and operating on Thursday afternoon after a bit of clean-up. The box above the right Powerwall3 is the Gateway controller which is essentially the traffic cop for managing power flow from the PV panels into the batteries and main circuit breaker box.

 

This image captures the solar panel placements on the homestead roofs. Let's face it, this install will not garner many points for being esthetically pleasing. Placing 13 panels on three roofs and dealing with fire department setbacks, an exhaust pipe, and old fashion sky lights brought its challenges. We must also add in the shadowing effects of a tall chimney, a huge maple tree, and the blocking sidewalls for the lower great room roof. In the end, this layout made the most sense for optimizing sunlight exposure though it appears to be disjointed. On a positive note, this side of the homestead is only seen if hanging out at the barn or in the gazebo.

If we had known during 1985 homestead construction that solar panels would be added to the roof in the year 2024, the building design and placement would have been different than that seen today. There is always the possibility to add another six architecturally pleasing PV panels to the opposite side of the homestead to further expand the capturing of a full day's sunlight. That installation would be minimal given that the Powerwall3 battery/inverters and the gateway are already in place.

 

What is Gerry Up To Today?

Another 45 Liberty Seated quarters, from the PCGS Set Registry collection, arrived on Thursday. This is on top of the recent consignment from the New Orleans Collection. All of these coins must be loaded into the COIN system as a first step. Today's $2.5 gold is ready to be loaded to the price list. Finally, I really need to start writing auction descriptions for my own Liberty Seated Dime collection. There is more than enough here to keep me occupied for several days...

But most importantly, we do need to sell some coins to balance all the incoming new inventory. I will do another Collectors Corner update to keep the GFRC listings looking fresh!

Thank you so much for the visit. It has been another super busy week and I'm looking forward to a few hours on Johnny2 on Saturday morning as mental therapy.

Be well!

 

 

 

September 12, 2024

GFRC Begins Offering a Liberty Seated Quarter Collection

and

Homestead Solar Install Close to Completion

 

Greetings on a Thursday morning and welcome to another Daily Blog update. What would we do each morning with these rambling sessions? Thanks for checking in.

So here we are approaching mid-September at a much too quick pace on one hand while the other can't wait to get out of the numismatic funk.

Clearly, the overnight temperatures are moving lower by the day as a sign that the annual foliage season will soon be upon us. The driveway maple, the earliest of the maples to move through its color transition, is already exhibiting signs of a yellow color shift while the burning bushes are well on their way with crimson red colors.

September is living up to its reputation as being the weakest numismatic sales month of the year. The presidential election uncertainties, and associated bombardment of opinions on cable news and social media are not helping matters. When there is uncertainty, the equity markets struggle as we have seen during the past seven trading days of so with ongoing volatility. Uncertain also impacts collector psyche with hesitation to make purchases unless the deep discounts are irresistible. Israel is about ready to invade southern Lebanon and the Ukraine-Russia war continues to grow wider. The bright spot is gold pricing which is holding the $2,500 level though numismatic gold sales are not responding to higher bullion prices. For those of us who have put away a physical gold stash, the appreciation is certainly welcomed.

Maine Solar was unable to complete the Fortin homestead installation on Wednesday. Therefore, we will see the team back on site during the Thursday morning hours. I'm looking forward to closure including the follow-on basement utility room cleaning and getting the homestead back to normal.

Concerning the GFRC business, an unexpected consignment wave is currently underway. A new New Orleans Collection tranche has arrived and was photographed yesterday. A large portion of the newly committed Liberty Seated Quarter collection has shipped and will arrive today or tomorrow. Just last evening, the Lakeland Collection also proposed shipping a large consignment. This would be great news in regular times. However, I had planned for the second half of September and the first half of October to be dedicated to writing the auction descriptions for the Gerry Fortin Liberty Seated Dime Collection in an unhurried manner. This task cannot be delayed given the auction catalog preparation schedule and planned debut at the November Baltimore show. Of course, September and October are my favorite times of the year for working outdoors.... The next 30 to 45 days will be a balancing act as there will be multiple demands on my time with the outdoor portion being squeezed which is very disappointing.

Currently, the 30 Day Price List inventory level continues to expand as coins are being posted while sales are anemic. On a positive note, GFRC will be heading into the Manchester NH and Baltimore shows with a substantial amount of fresh inventory that should also carry us into Winter FUN.

So this is a quick wrap on the GFRC situation. I'm doing my best towards working with everyone who wishes to avail of our services while still conducting the planned Newtown and Gerry Fortin auction sales during the first half of 2025. Consignors will need some patience as there is only so much that I can get done each day will still enjoying a limited time outdoors. Daily health walks on the trails are non-negotiable. The Daily Blog will be one of the time squeeze points. The Global Financial News segment is already gone as an example as I just can't get any meaningful reading or research done.

 

GFRC Begins Offering a Liberty Seated Quarter Collection

Today brings an initial installment of the newly consigned Liberty Seated quarter collection that GFRC has committed to sell on behalf of an existing client. The showcase gallery opens with a very difficult date, the 1873 No Arrows Closed 3. During the past ten years of operation, GFRC has only handled eleven examples ranging from G04 through AU55. Today brings the twelfth example to the price list as featured as our marquee piece. The 1840 No Drapery quarter is definitely welcomed as I've struggled to keep No Drapery type in inventory during 2024. The 1867 quarter was previously sold into this collection by GFRC with the sales record being available in the Sales Archive. Please note that this quarter has been reholdered and requires a trip back to CAC NJ for a new green bean. This will be done next week after all of the other reholdered CAC approved quarters arrive to the office in the next 24-48 hours. The balance of the lots are nice circulated examples and will be posted to the 30 Day Price List today. The "and More" is a tough 1856-S Liberty Seated half dollar lot that was part of the initial consignment.

 

GFRC Begins Offering a Liberty Seated Quarter Collection

and More...

1873 No Arrows Closed 3 PCGS EF40 25C - $3250

  1840-O No Drapery NGC AU50 25C - $1150                                           1867 PCGS VF35 CAC 25C - $1800          

        

1840-O Drap EF40 25C - $500                         1850 PCGS VF30 25C - $250                         1852 PCGS VF30 25C - $525

                

      1855-O PCGS VF20 25C - $750                         1871 PCGS VF25 25C - $285                   1856-S WB-2 PCGS EF45 50C - $1400

                

 

Homestead Solar Install Close to Completion

Maine Solar Solutions will be back to the homestead at 8:00 AM and has promised to be done by noon time. All of the roof wiring is now in place with the last task being the lifting of 13 SEG 550W solar panels onto the roof and subsequent installation. The basement connection of the Tesla Powerwall3 battery/inverter units into the main circuit breaker was accomplished yesterday. Following is an image of the two uncovered Tesla units along with interconnections.

Today's key deliverable is a final operational check of the system to verify that all 13 PV panels are functioning properly along with testing the net metering interface with Central Maine Power's incoming supply line. Once the system passes its final Quality Buy-off, then comes a training session for Diane and me. The Tesla app will be loaded on our cellphone phones along with setting up our login accounts. Afterwards, the the system control options will be explained. Today's weather will be sunny and ideal for witnessing the amount of solar generated power during the peak noon time period. Since no heat pumps are operating at this time of year, we will be able to see the transfer of power to CMP as a first system test.

Yes, all of this is going on while I'm trying to write coin descriptions and processing more images.

 

Wrapping Up The Blog

That is all she wrote for today. I'm heading to the shower (crap, there is no power to the oil furnace or hot water maker after the Tesla battery tie in as just discovered by Diane) followed by staging a few lots for Diane's shipping activities. Then Maine Solar will be on site. Fun, fun...

Thank you for the visit.

Be well!

 

 

 

September 11, 2024

GFRC Bullet Point Update - A Host of Activities

and

Maine Solar Installation - Day 1 Images

 

Greetings and welcome to the Daily Blog on a Wednesday morning. Thank you for staying current with the GFRC and Fortin homestead events.

Maine Solar Solutions is back on site at 8:30 AM for the final day of our 23.5KW system installation. This leaves little time to prepare a Daily Blog edition, followed by securing a shower, and staging morning shipping as we have several layaways that received final payments yesterday.

Let's get right to the heart of the today's content.

 

GFRC Bullet Point Update - A Host of Activities

Yesterday was one of those intense days that required time in the basement sound room to deprocess for the happy hour session. Following are the activities that are currently underway.

- The Gerry Fortin Liberty Seated Dime Collection will be featured in the upcoming Fall 2024 Gobrecht Journal edition. Greg Johnson and I have been exchanging lists to finalize the 20 dimes that will be showcased in the centerfold section. As of 6:15 this morning. the list has been settled. I will start writing descriptions for these 20 dimes first for inclusion in the supporting article. It is ironic that the Gobrecth Journal centerfold concept was first proposed by yours truly when club president. Now my own collection will be showcased in this manner. There is discussion for a potential Part 2 display in the Spring 2025 issue.

- A conference call was held with the consignor of the Liberty Seated Quarter collection that was mentioned in Tuesday's Blog. The consignor wishes to remain anonymous during the sales process, therefore there will be no collection branding. All lots will be sold via fixed price list. Lots valued under $300 will not be consigned and sold via another route. The first step is the need to resticker 13-15 lots at CAC as the consignor had these pieces reholdered. We've worked out a transport schedule.

- The latest New Orleans Collection has arrived and will be loaded into the COIN system in the next 48 hours along with photography.

- The $2.5 Liberty gold CAC submission has returned and will be photographed today. Four incremental lots from the consignment were posted to the price list yesterday.

- The sale of the residual Bart Chapman Collection lots is coming to an end. Linda, Bart's widow, has authorized a 30% discounts on the remaining lots to close down this activity. The GFRC based lots have been discounted and posted to the top of the 30 Day Price List.

- Finally, I am working on a five figure gold trade for the purchase of the 1857-S PCGS MS64+ CAC $20 gold piece from the S.S. Central America. This deal is close to completion.

 

Maine Solar Installation - Day 1 Images

Tuesday also brought the first day of Maine Solution Solar's on site presence. There was one surprise that was quickly resolved with a phone call with company management. The installation team arrived and then proceeded to spend the morning hours designing the installation plan. I had several discussions with the crew lead person (Justin) and we finalized the placement of the solar panels to be consistent with fire department setback regulations. Key was how the panels would be interconnected into a single DC line input into the Powerwall3 units. Since the homestead has three separate roof lines and minimal attic access, the interconnect took serious consideration for how and where to place the conduit. I was pleased with the final plan as the amount of visible conduit, on the outside of the house, will be minimal.

While Justin was working through the PV panel install plan, the electrician (Dan) was preparing a spot by the circuit breaker panel for the Powerwall3 battery units. Dan will also be conducting the system QA once complete and providing a training session for Diane and I after the Tesla apps are loaded on our cellphones.

Following are two status images. Maine Solar is back shortly to complete the installation today.

This first image shows the homestead with the PV rails mounted on the three different roofs. There will be six 550W SEG panels on the left roof, two panels at the lower point of the center roof, and five panels on the right roof. We lost one panel on the right roof due to an exhaust pile that was not worth the trouble to relocate. Shading will be a seasonal issue for the left and center roof panels as is evident from this image.

 

This second image was taken in the utility room and shows the two uncovered Powerwall3 battery and integrated inverter units. These will be mounted on the installed plywood back surface today along with interconnection to the DC line from the PV panels and then integrated into our circuit breaker panel and Central Maine Power incoming power line. There is no time to get into more details on how the system will be operationally configured. That is for another day.

 

Wrapping Up The Blog

That is today's update and my apology for the rushed presentation given Maine Solar's arrival in the near term.

Thank you for the visit.

Be well!

 

 

 

September 10, 2024

GFRC Selling A Top Rated Liberty Seated Quarter Collection

and

Alert! GFRC Package Theft in River Grove, Illinois Post Office

 

Greetings on a Tuesday morning and welcome to the Daily Blog. Thank you for the ongoing visits.

Today edition will be brief as I'm expecting Maine Solar Solutions' arrival within minutes after the Daily Blog is uploaded and wish to be ready to discuss their day's installation work once on site. Let's move right into the headlines.

 

GFRC Selling A Top Rated Liberty Seated Quarter Collection

I'm very pleased to announce that GFRC has been selected to sell a top rated Liberty Seated quarter collection as listed on the PCGS Set Registry. Already, nine better date lots were insourced on Monday with a pricing proposal completed and approved by a customer turned consignor. These lots will be photographed today along with image processing.

During the upcoming week, or so, the balance of the collection will be shipping to the GFRC office. More will be shared once the collection has been transported and is located in the GFRC office.

 

Alert! GFRC Package Theft in River Grove, Illinois Post Office

The following GFRC lot is assumed to be stolen in the River Grove, Illinois post office.

The USPS Priority package was picked up at the post office counter or by the carrier and signed for by an unauthorized individual. The signature on the post office keypad is illegible. I will speak with the River Grove postmaster tomorrow or Wednesday though the package was improperly released on Friday of last week. My key question will focus on whether the release was done by a mail carrier or counter staff and why a package with Signature Confirmation was released to someone without proper identification or without an addressee delivery attempt. Per tracking information, the package was released prior to a delivery attempt. A post office theft is the initial conclusion as the GFRC client was home the entire day during scheduled delivery. The package was intercepted and never reached our client. The package was doubled bagged with padded Priority Mail envelope with a small flat rate Priority inside. After speaking with the postmaster, a report will be filed with NCIC to alert other dealers who may be shipping into the River Grove post office.

Yes, this ia common date $2.5 gold piece and will be quite difficult to track if offered at a local coin shop.

1913 PCGS MS62 G$2.5 Cert #83719862

 

What Is Gerry Up To Today?

As usual, I will be fully consumed during the waking hours. The Maine Solar Solutions installation begins today and will need some morning attention. Therefore, there is no shipping activity today.

The balance of the day will be focused on preparing the remaining $2.5 gold lots for posting to the price list as I am anticipating the return of the CAC submission. Work also begins on description generation for the Gerry Fortin Liberty Seated Dime Collection. Len Augsburger is actively preparing descriptions for the Newtown Liberty Seated Half Dollar Collection also.

A numismatic purchase would be greatly appreciated to keep inventory flowing.

Thanks again for stopping by.

Be well!

 

 

 

September 9, 2024

Three Goals for the Week

and

Learning the Art of Race Car Driving

 

Greetings from southern Maine on a Monday morning and welcome to the Daily Blog. You are probably checking in with a mental model of what how today's ramblings will be structured. I might just be a bit disappointing then...

At a high political and financial level, we must get through the media onslaught that comes with the Harris-Trump debate on Tuesday evening. It is doubtful that I will be watching. Come Thursday, the FOMC will report out on the much anticipated interest rate cut. Will in be 0.25% or 0.5% with tons of speculation on the impact to an already nervous equity market. Many believe that we are entering a recession if not already there.

Here in Maine, I will be focused on several goals. The first is the installation of our long awaited off-grid solar powered system. Maine Solar arrives on Tuesday and Wednesday for the roof mounted 550W solar panels along with the placement of two Powerwall3 battery systems in the basement utility room. Come Thursday, power outages are a thing of the past.

The second and third goals will be discussed shortly.

It was a quiet weekend in the GFRC office with essentially no love. The Wicker Park Collection Barber lots were loaded to the price list with just a single order for the lowest priced coin in the group. I tried discounting several aging GFRC owned coins, also without attention. OK, this is September and the focus will be on those things that I truly enjoy along with sustaining the GFRC online platform. This leads us to the headlines.

 

Three Goals for the Week

I've already spoken about the first goal for the week which is the 23.5KW solar system installation. There will be an incredible peace of mind knowing that the homestead is self sustaining regardless of the power grid situation. As long as the sun rises in the morning, even with cloudy conditions, there will be sufficient electricity to power the well and flush toilets. If you think I'm being paranoid, you did not live through the Great Ice Storm of 1998 without a generator. Melting snow on the wood stove to flush a toilet once per day was no fun for a family of four.

The second goal is loading the balance of a recent $2.5 gold consignment to the 30 day price list. I received the CAC results on Friday and was disappointed. As a CACG investor, I don't call balls and strikes. However, my batting average on this lot should send me back to the minor leagues for rehabilitation. Enough said...

The third goal secures its own headline.

 

Learning the Art of Race Car Driving

If the numismatic market is focused elsewhere I might as well focus my attention on learning a new skill. Since mastering of the art of the John Deere tractor, the new challenge is learning the art of race car driving since the Hallet racing school, in Oklahoma, is just five weeks away.

My mentor is none other than Blake Gibb (Sooner Collection), a well established sport car driver at the Hallett Speedway. Within Saturday's mail delivery were two books entitled Driving in Competition by Alan Johnson and High Performance Driving by Bob Bondurant. This weekend, the first book was consumed and sparked the awareness that I have much to learn and practice in just five weeks. Thank goodness that the 1993 Miata, with its 5-speed, is available for practicing improved shifting techniques and also learning the art of downshifting and upshifting through turns.

A Daily Blog edition would be dull without at least one image. Here are the two books that are now at the top of my reading list. Actually, these are the only books on my reading list for some time.

 

On a race course, downshifting is a critical skill with those who have mastered the art being able to execute turns on a much smoother (faster) basis. For those readers who have never driven a car with a manual transmission, then the following will not make much sense. For those of us who grew up with manual transmissions, the art of downshifting into a lower gear to pass a slower moving vehicle is important (and exciting). There are three types of downshifting. They are rev matching, double clutching, and heel-toe. Heel-toe downshifting is what I must master during the next month. In essence, humans only have two feet while a car with a manual transmission has three pedals. The right foot therefore must learn the skill of operating both the brake and accelerator at the same time while clutching through gears. I hope the Miata is up for the forthcoming practice sessions on Maine's backroads....

The second critical learning from the above books is analyzing a race track and the type of turns. In priority order, there are three types of turns. Turn 1 is the most critical since heading directly into a long straightaway. Races are won and lost based on how fast or slow a driver can move through a turn that precedes a straightway. Turn 2 is the second most important and arrives at the end of a straightaway. The goal is to brake at the last possible moment and dip into the turn apex smoothly then exiting as fast as possible. Timing and brake force is critical while downshifting. The final turn (Turn 3) is the least important. These are the "S" type turns on a race track that must be navigated as close to maximum speed as possible. The equivalent would be a snow skiing slalom course.

There are also rules of the track for passing and developing mental strength to drive one's on race while other race cars are moving around you. The passing and defending strategies are key in both turns and straightaways.

As I said earlier, there is much to learn and practice in just five weeks before flying to Oklahoma City for a two day racing class at the Hallett Speedway. Hopefully, my track performance will be better than the most recent CAC stickering submission.

 

Wrapping Up the Blog

As I said, today's ramblings are unconventional as I'm not in a structured mood towards selling coins when few are actively buying. Life is too short to dwell on a business towards eking out one or two incremental sales. When collectors are ready to return to the price list, then the structured Blog editions will also reappear. In the meantime, I'm going to deal with some near term goals that are more important.

Thank you for the visit.

Be well!

 

 

 

September 8, 2024

Wicker Park - Mint State Barbers to Consider

 

Greetings on a cool southern Maine morning and welcome to the Daily Blog. We hope that you are enjoying a pleasant weekend.

Today's primary topic is the second and final installment of the Wicker Park consignment that was transferred at the Chicago ANA show. Following is a lovely offering of Mint State Barber halves along with the balance of the Barber quarter lot. All images accurately illustrate the surfaces and overall eye appeal of each lot. Offer prices are also featured for each item.

This entire lot will be posted to the 30 Day Price List by the end of day with complete descriptions. In the meantime, you are welcomed to place email or text message orders to secure first shot at these notable offerings.

 

Wicker Park Collection - Lovely Mint State Barber Halves

1895-O PCGS MS64 50C - $2850

        1898 PCGS MS63 50C - $825                                                          1905 PCGS MS64 50C - $2000    

        

      1907-D PCGS MS64 50C - $1450                                                     1911 PCGS MS64 50C - $1200    

        

And More Mint State Barber Quarters!

 1899 NGC MS64 25C - $550                           1901 NGC MS64 25C - $535                        1905 PCGS MS63 25C - $455

                

1908-D PCGS MS61 25C - $325                        1912 ANACS MS64 25C - $395                        1912 NGC MS63 25C - $350    

                

 

Wrapping Up The Blog

Maine Solar Solutions arrives on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week to install our long awaited 23.5KW-Hr Powerwall3 centric off-grid system. Having the knowledge and comfort that the homestead can now withstand a multi-day power outage will be priceless, especially when wintering in Florida. There are basement preparations, to house the two Powerwall3 units, that must be done in advance of Maine Solar's arrival, therefore I am securing an early start on that effort this morning. The afternoon hours will find me back in the office writing Wicker Park descriptions and posting his Barber consignment to the price list.

That is it for today. Thank you for checking in.

Be well!

 

 

 

September 7, 2024

Dodging the Near Term Jury Duty Bullet

and

A Wonderful Casco Bay Dinner Cruise with the Travers

 

 

Greetings from southern Maine and welcome to the Daily Blog. It is wonderfully seasonal Saturday morning here in the Pine Tree state.

Be forewarned that there is no numismatic content for today's edition. Friday brought morning shipping followed by a mid-afternoon drive to Falmouth and the Handyboat boat marina. More on the this topic in a moment. Let's move directly to the headlines.

 

Dodging the Near Term Jury Duty Bullet

With anticipation, the 6:00 PM Friday evening call was placed into the Cumberland County Superior Court hot line to determine if either Diane and/or Gerry would need to report on Monday morning for jury selection. The jury pool was huge with over 240 potential jurist numbers assembled into the selection group given the forthcoming two criminal trials. As the headline indicates, Gerry was not selected for a Monday appearance but Diane was. This is the best possible outcome for the GFRC business as I needed to stay focused on consignments and ongoing GFRC Online Auction preparations plus manning the online storefront.

Diane, on the other hand, would not mind serving on a jury as an opportunity to participate in the judicial process. Come Monday afternoon, we will know if Diane has been selected for the first of two important criminal trials during the month of September.

 

A Wonderful Casco Bay Dinner Cruise with the Travers

Last Friday, Lyn and Terry Traver partied at the Fortin homestead for the evening including happy hour in the gazebo, a grilled scallops dinner, and the evening finale in the sound room featuring Van Morrison at Montreux circa 1980. Late evening brought the Fortins onto the Traver boat for a tour of Casco Bay including motoring along the Portland working waterfront. The weather was ideal with temperatures in the high 60s under bright sunshine. The companionship was the highlight of the evening as the gals hung out at the back of the boat while the guys staffed the captain and co-pilot quarters. Captain Terry cooked an awesome wild salmon for dinner along with Lyn's special salad being delightful.

Following are two sunset images taken while motoring back to the Handyboat marina in Falmounth. Sunset occurred at 7:07 PM with the marina closing mooring shuttle services at 8:00 PM.

 

Wrapping Up The Blog

I will be in and out of the GFRC office today with light morning shipping and some consignment image processing.

Thank you for the visit.

Be well!

 

 

 

September 6, 2024

New Orleans Collection Moves Up the Ladder with a New Consignment

and

Newtown Liberty Seated Half Dollar Auction Images Finalized

 

Greetings and welcome to the Daily Blog on a Friday morning. Thank you for stopping by.

Before we go any further, there was an erroneous posting of a price for the newly listed 1907-O Barber quarter on the 30 Day Price List. The erroneous price was $395 but should be $750 consistent with the first listing of the Wicker Park Collection Barber quarters during late August. These were posted without descriptions early on and saw descriptions added yesterday along with being repositioned at the top of the price list. .

My apology to those who thought that they had secured a bargain. However, I cannot sell the coin at the erroneous price and believe those who jumped on the coin will understand that mistakes can sometime happen. In this case, I reverted to a backup copy of the COIN database that had the old uncorrected price when a database corruptions issue appeared recently. GFRC policy is to back up the COIN system frequently as the Excel database is massive and can be impacted by something as simply as an erroneous key stroke in an unwanted location.

Let's move on to the day's important news...

 

New Orleans Collection Moves Up the Ladder with a New Consignment

Yesterday brought a email from the New Orleans Collection with a proposed new consignment. As experienced with many consignors, the process of "moving up the ladder" is once again underway as collectors continue to release incrementally substantial duplicates back into the market place. These ongoing releases bring a progressive improvement in scarcer dates, higher grades, and an increasing number of CAC approved duplicates. The New Orleans Collection release will ship to the GFRC early next week which is perfect timing as I will be consumed with potential jury selection on Monday and the homestead's 23.5KW solar system installation on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Following are the planned numismatic items to be transferred. Once the consignment is in hand, I will be reviewing the lots for potential CAC submission therefore there is no First Right of Refusal option today for the non-CAC approved lots. For the four lots that are CAC approved, I will take FRoR requests. The intent of this announcement is to make the community aware of the forthcoming new inventory that will be arriving shortly to the price list.

1860-O H10c PCGS MS66CAC #02682856

1849-O 10c PCGS MS62 #14535193

1856-O 10C PCGS MS64CAC #37759116

1897-O 10c PCGS MS64 #15997219

1901-O/O 10c PCGS MS64 #19758682

1902-O 10c PCGS AU50 #10945031

1905-O 10c PCGS MS66CAC OGH #04181829

1906-O 10c PCGS MS66 #06782421

1857-Oo 50c PCGS MS64 #25551760

1860-O 50c PCGS MS65 #41616683

1902-O 50c PCGS MS62 #11529783

1908-Oo 50c PCGS MS64CAC #15386239

 

Newtown Liberty Seated Half Dollar Auction Images Finalized

I'm thoroughly pleased to report that the entire Newtown Liberty Seated Half Dollar Collection has been fully imaged at the online auction link. Accessing the online catalog is as simple as clicking on either of the above auction banners at the top of the Daily Blog. At this point, both the Gerry Fortin Seated dimes and Newtown Seated halves are presented in their full glory. A stroll through the auction catalog may be warranted if having extra time on one's hands. The display, as a whole, is quite stunning.

When processing images, I have the unique opportunity of closely inspecting each lot and discovering its visual beauty via in hand review followed by a bright light assessment. With this understanding of the coin's attributes, especially coloration, my goal is to duplicate the visual experience as illustrated within the GFRC images. If a lot is exceptional under a bright light, the goal is transfer these characteristics to the images, of course within the limitations of the initial photograph and the enhancement tools at my disposal.

Following is a highlight presentation for the recently posted auction images starting at 1870 through the end of the series. These are notable Newtown Seated half dollars that I found to be impressive given the combination of luster and overall eye appeal. I hope that you will enjoy this presentation.

 1870 WB-7 PCGS MS65+ CAC 50C                                              1872 WB-6 PCGS MS65+ CAC 50C   

        

    1872-S WB-1 PCGS MS65 CAC 50C                                           1875-S WB-11 PCGS MS66+ CAC 50C 

        

1876-CC WB-2 PCGS MS62 CAC 50C                                             1876-S WB-24 PCGS MS66 CAC 50C 

        

 1883 PCGS MS64 CAC 50C                                                            1884 PCGS MS66 CAC 50C 

        

 1886 PCGS MS63 CAC 50C                                                          1888 PCGS MS66+ CAC 50C 

        

 

Wrapping Up The Blog

I'm sorry, but today's Blog edition must be ended at this point. Diane is off to a Theriault family breakfast in Lewiston which means that I'm staffing the shipping department on a solo basis. Afterwards, there is a host of items to get done since next Monday through Wednesday bring potential time away from the GFRC office. At some point, life needs to slow down a tad....

Thanks again for checking in at the Daily Blog.

Be well!

 

 

 

September 5, 2024

It is September...

Finalizing Newtown Seated Half Dollar Auction Images Today

and

A Seeded Gazebo's Back Lot Plus More...

 

Greetings on a Thursday morning and welcome to the Daily Blog. The daily editions continue to arrive much too quickly as the days are literally flying by when fully consumed. We are glad that interest is still being maintain during the month of September.

Yes, the month of September is a transition period. Children and teenagers head back to school with the associated parental responsibilities. Major League Baseball wraps up its regular season this month while college football begins its fall schedule. As temperatures drop, at least in the northern states, those that love the outdoors take advantage of favorable temperatures and reductions in insect populations towards spending more time outside.

My point is that September is the doorway to the autumn season with pent up demand for a host of different activities. Is it no surprise that numismatics finds itself at a much lower level of attention?

That is certainly the case at GFRC and probably true for other dealers. Unless posting coins with deep discounts that the value buyers will pounce upon, the regular business level is anemic. I hope that consignors can understand this point when considering why their coins remain idle on a price list.

2024 brings even more distractions with presidential and local elections in just two months. Cable news and YouTube are replete with political commentary for those that subscribe to this form of entertainment.

Yes, it is September.

 

Finalizing Newtown Seated Half Dollar Auction Images Today

Since not spending much time responding to and kitting new orders, my emphasis has been and continues to be the Newtown Liberty Seated Half Dollar Collection that arrives at auction during the first half of 2025.

Wednesday brought an afternoon of image processing that will continue through today. If all goes to plan, the Newtown portion of the online catalog will be fully populated by later this afternoon. With a host of new images available, tomorrow's Blog will bring another showcase.

Once the Newtown images are posted, my focus shifts back to several consignments that have been patiently waiting in the background.

 

A Seeded Gazebo's Back Lot Plus More...

Wednesday afternoon also brought the grass seeding of the gazebo's back lot. What a relief to know that this area has been fine raked, seeded, and covered with straw in time for a potential green fuzz before the winter season appears. Whatever does not sprout during the cooler autumn period will appears during the spring of 2025.

At this point, the back acreage projects are mostly concluded for another year. The following two images, taken roughly fourteen weeks apart, illustrate the amount of landscaping and back deck view expansion that has taken place in a relatively short period of time. My lower back is a bit sore this morning but most justifiable given the visual progress.

August 28, 2024 Progress

May 18, 2024 Starting Point

 

Wrapping Up The Blog

Again, I've not been paying attention to the equity markets as my mind has been focused elsewhere. Gold is trading at $2517 with silver at $28.67 as of 7:25 AM ET.

Let's end the Blog at this point to enable a quick transition to Newtown Seated half dollar image processing and the shipment of a single GFRC order. The shipping queue will be empty at that point.

Thank you, as always, for the visit.

Be well!

 

 

 

September 4, 2024

Newtown's Carson City Seated Halves!

and

Wrapping Up Backyard Landscaping for 2024

 

Greetings and welcome to another Daily Blog edition as the first week of September continues to barrel along. We appreciate the ongoing visits.

So what is new at the homestead since I last blogged?

For starters, the Maine Solar Solutions system installation is on for next Tuesday and Wednesday. A call into the Cumberland County Superior Court clerk's office went well as I explained the solar system installation date and the inability to be available as a jurist on September 10 and 11. There was sympathy as to my plight with the guidance to send documentation for the installation dates and I would be excused. The Maine Solar installation crew leader did just that with the email being forwarded to the Clerk of Courts. This project has been a challenge from day one with excessive Town of Raymond permitting requirements that I worked to strike down and now being called for jury duty during the installation time frame. There will be a celebration once the system is fully operational, or will it just be relief at this point as this project has been exhausting.

If checking the30 Day Price List, you will note that the New Jersey Collection has issued a 10% across the board pricing reduction for his Liberty Seated and Trade dollars. So far, two pieces have been scooped up by sharp eyes.

Tuesday's priority, other than a substantial amount of Xmas in August shipping, was the Newtown Liberty Seated Half Dollar Collection and wrapping up the image processing phase for online auction catalog construction. Progress was made per the next segment.

 

Newtown's Carson City Seated Halves!

When a complete Liberty Seated coinage collection is viewed (excluding half dimes), collector or dealer eyes will immediately gravitate to the key date Carson City issues given their rarity and ongoing surfaces issues for most survivors.

GFRC is most pleased to be showcasing the major Newtown Carson City half dollar dates in today's Blog edition. Our top client stretched when it was necessary to acquire superb examples for his majestic collecting achievement. Of course, we open with the 1870-CC, a key date issue, that was purchased via GFRC from the famed Seal Beach Collection. This lot was acquired during April 2020 at an eye opening price of $55,000.

1870-CC WB-2, PCGS AU55 50C

 

Next in importance is the 1874-CC issue and what a wonderful specimen for the date! This lot was also purchased from GFRC via its Online Auctions platform during July 2021. The Branch Mint Collection pedigree is synonymous with some of the finest numismatic items to be handled by GFRC and this half is no exception.

 1874-CC WB-3 PCGS MS63 CAC 50C 

 

A pair of PCGS AU55 CAC specimens, from the Seal Beach Collection, comprise the next segment of this display. Both lots were sourced from GFRC during April 2020 with the prior descriptions available in the Sales Archive.

 1871-CC WB-3 PCGS AU55 CAC 50C                                           1872-CC WB-5 PCGS AU55 CAC 50C 

        

 

Today's display concludes with the No Arrows and Arrows 1873 Carson City varieties along with the 1875-CC and ever challenging 1878-CC. The No Arrows 1873-CC half hails from the Dick Osburn Collection while the Arrows issue was purchased via GFRC. I consider the 1875 Carson City issue to be much better than the subsequent 1876-CC and 1877-CC dates that were struck in large quantities. The display wraps up with the 1878-CC, a date that continues to be under rated and appreciated for its rarity. This lot is the lone MS63 approved at CAC with five finer.

 1873-CC No Arrows WB-1 PCGS VF35 CAC 50C                             1873-CC Arrows WB-8 PCGS MS63 CAC 50C  

        

    1875-CC WB-4 PCGS MS64 CAC 50C                                            1878-CC WB-1 PCGS MS63 CAC 50C 

        

 

Wrapping Up Backyard Landscaping for 2024

The arrival of 3:00 PM each day is important in that I can walk away from the GFRC office and spent two hours working outdoors. Major projects are tackled in this manner, with two hour daily working allocations before the 5:00 PM happy hour with Diane arrives. Maine life is certainly structured towards making things happen.

On Tuesday, the area behind the gazebo approached the finish line in terms of being ready for grass seeding. The below image captures the layout and downward sloping contours. The left and right crushed stone drainage channels have been integrated into the landscape with the visual presentation of a walking path that leads to the major drainage channel at the far right. The newly planted grass at the left is coming in nicely.

Today brings a final raking of the triangular center area to remove the larger stones as a first step. Afterwards, grass seed will be applied followed by rolling the entire area with the John Deere lawn tractor to buried the grass seed at an approximately 1/4" depth. The final step is placing straw over the seeded area. Clicking on the below image will provide access to a higher resolution version. I'm open to ideas for what might be placed in the triangular area that would enhance the overall view. Just remember that a downward slope must be comprehended. Granddaughter Natsumi suggested that I build a miniature gold course in this area though the idea is unrealistic given the slope and rough rocky surface.

 

Global Financial News

Equity markets tanked on Tuesday with the S&P 500 down 2.1% on the day to 5,529. The NASDAQ and the high flying tech stocks took it on the chin with a 3.3% drop. Why such a bad day for the markets? I've been so busy elsewhere to research an answer to this question. Some are simply saying it is September, typically the worse month of the year for equities. Are traders attempting to front run the market by moving into cash early?

Spot gold and silver were also hit with selling woes. Gold is currently trading at $2490/oz in London while silver has dropped to a tad above $28.

The 10 Year Treasury bond yield has barely moved to 3.81% while the U.S. dollar is steady at 101.7.

Morning market futures indicate more selling at the opening bell with the S&P forecast to drop another 0.4%.

 

What is Gerry Up To Today?

The shipping department will be busy again during the early morning followed by yet another Newtown Seated half dollar image processing session up until 3:00 PM. At that point, I will heading down to the backyard to try to get grass seed on the newly landscaped area. With just a two hour window, there are a host of stones to be fine raked and removed before applying the grass seed and straw coverage.

September is the low point of the annual numismatic calendar and I hope that some in the community will still remain active with their hobby. Purchase orders are most welcomed.

Thank you again for the visit.

Be well!

 

 

September 3, 2024

Springfield 1891-O PCGS AU50 CAC 25c to Consider

More $2.5 Liberty Gold Loaded to the 30 Day Price List

and

A "Sick" 1888 Dime from the Fortin Collection

 

Greetings on a Tuesday morning and welcome to the Daily Blog, We are glad that you could find the time for a visit.

The southern Maine temperature shift has been dramatic and timely as we exit Labor Day and move into the autumn season. The current 6:00 AM temperature is only 47F with the day's high peaking at 71 degrees. The skies will be clear the entire day with reasonably low humidity. These are ideal conditions for GFRC coin photography but unfortunately, all the consigned coins in our processing queue are already imaged.

Autumn in Maine is a fantastic time of year for two reasons. First is the lack of bugs which is huge if enjoying walking trails in the forest. The second is the soon to arrive colorful foliage that peaks during the second to third week of October. Already, our burning bushes have begun their color transition with maroon colors announcing the seasonal transition.

After living through seasonal cycles at the homestead, I'm to the point of being able to estimate the month without a calendar based on the day's length, the type of prevalent insects, what weeds are growing, and the height of the sun in the sky. This year, I've paid close attention to the various insect populations and the weed cycles. When I finally retire, I may just start a diary noting these parameters for reference during upcoming years towards building a nature's seasonal map.

Let's move into numismatics if you don't mind...

 

Springfield 1891-O PCGS AU50 CAC 25C to Consider

It took a while, but the promised Springfield Collection's 1891-O quarter arrived on Saturday and was immediately photographed and posted to the 30 Day Price List. This is a challenging final year of design issue from the New Orleans mint with only 68,000 struck and the mintage being placed into circulation. The CAC population report is quite telling with 42 examples stickered. However, nearly all approved are in the lower circulated grades. In Mint State, this date is a huge rarity, with only two examples that have been approved in all AU grades. GFRC is pleased to be showcasing one of those two pieces with a green bean. Yes, the offer price is above the CDN CAC price guide, but frankly, where will you find another AU or Mint State example at this pricing level? I certainly get this point when viewing my own Liberty Seated dime collection and the many finest or near finest known examples. The operative word for a price guide is that, a guide. Just because a website or numismatic publishing company states "x" as the value at a certain grade does not make it an undeniable fact and the end all. Personally, I have paid 2X and even 3X the "guide" for select dimes in my collection with full knowledge of the rarity or extreme beauty. The final segment in today's Blog will illustrate this point.

In the case of this offering, there is a stickered AU50 and a single AU58. The CDN CAC guide numbers are $4,500 and $6,750 respectively. The lowest Mint State approved example is an MS64 with a guide number of $26,000 and a MS67 without price guide number. That is it in terms of the population in AU50 or better. If I owned the AU58, the asking price would be at the five figure level in today's AU58 centric market. What is this AU50 specimen truly worth? The offer price is quite far from my reference point as a dealer and collector.

1891-O PCGS AU50 CAC 25C - $6950

 

More $2.5 Liberty Gold Loaded to the 30 Day Price List

I've been holding back the loading of the balance of the recently consigned $2.5 Liberty lot pending CAC results on nine pieces and their return to the office. However, last evening brought the placement of three low mintage dates with one lot selling immediately. Following are those three lots with the 1876-S being paid for and shipping today.

 1876-S NGC EF45 CAC G$2.5 - Sold at $1325

     1880 NGC AU58 CAC G$2.5 - $2500                                                1888 NGC MS64 CAC G$2.5 - $2100    

        

 

A "Sick" 1888 Dime from the Fortin Collection

Monday also brought the last of the image fine tuning for the upcoming Gerry Fortin Liberty Seated Dime Collection auction lots. The 1852-O and 1873 No Arrows Open 3 dimes were re-imaged in their new PCGS holders along with this 1888 dime being rephotographed with some WD40 to remove reverse holder haze. For once, I've been able to capture the intense reverse colors of this Gold CAC approved specimen.

This piece is a case of where I paid well above the "guide" to secure an amazing specimen. The purchase date was August 2007 at a price of $2900 for an MS66. $2900 was a huge price for a common date MS66, even in 2007. My judgment was validated during the 2014 CAC walk through submission as this piece secured a gold bean. I hope that my point is being made with respect to this piece and the opening 1891-O quarter from the Springfield Collection. There might be some sticker shock when reserve prices are posted for my Seated dimes as who else is better suited for understanding this series and market? As noted coin dealer and my last mentor, Jim O'Donnell would often say, "go find another one". In other words, knowledgeable numismatics need to step up when the right coin appears on the market as it could be gone again for years.

1888 F-116 PCGS MS66 Gold CAC 10C

 

Wrapping Up The Blog

Let's end the Blog edition here as we have a substantial amount of ship aheads and regular orders to process this morning along with a host of other business items to get done. Once the shipping is out the door, there will be a several hour session processing Newtown Seated Half Dollar Collection images towards completing that portion of the online auction catalog. I am starting to fall behind schedule and need to catch up.

I do want to spend two hours on Johnny2 today towards wrapping up the area immediately behind the gazebo for grass seed planting. The 2024 grass planting season window is quickly closing as the temperatures drop and the days get ever shorter.

Thanks again for the ongoing visit.

 

 

September 2, 2024

Happy Labor Day

Sadly, a Final Maine Lobster Meal

and

Christmas In August Sale Summary

 

Greetings on Labor Day Monday 2024! Welcome to a brief Daily Blog edition.

It is hard to believe but yesterday afternoon brought my final Maine lobster roll meal. Diane and I took the Miata for a nice ride and stopped at the Fisherman's Catch eatery in downtown Raymond. Memories of the last lobster meal there were fresh on my mind given the allergic reaction that occurred. The lobster rolls were great as was the seafood chowder. Then came 2:00 AM this morning. I awoke with another round of hives that were quickly covering my body. Thank goodness that there was still Clariton antihistamine pills in the bathroom cabinet. The antihistamine worked as expected and I'm fine this morning, though short on sleep and still feeling a bit itchy. After decades of enjoying Maine lobster, the body chemistry has experienced a subtle change whereby it will no longer tolerate lobster meat. There are worse things in life to worry about than the inability to eat lobster rolls.

 

Christmas In August Sale Summary

The 2024 Christmas in August Sale closed on Sunday with a final round of purchases that improved the sale statistics. Overall, 11 coins were sold out of the offered 265. Total discounted sales amounted to $14,660 as compared to $430,000 being offered. GFRC and our consignors are grateful for the sales that did take place.

There is no need to speculate on the reason for the tepid sale response. As I stated yesterday, it is what it is and now time to move forward with new listings.

 

Wrapping Up The Blog

Today brings time in the GFRC office regardless of it being a gorgeous weather day. Invoicing some of the more complex Christmas in August sales take priority along with staging shipping for Tuesday morning. Nearly all the discounted purchases will be ship aheads.

Thank you for checking in at the Daily Blog on a holiday wekeend.

Be well!

 

 

 

September 1, 2024

Christmas In August Sale Closes at 9:00 PM

Gerry Fortin Liberty Seated Dime Collection Auction Images Fully Posted

and

Dave Wilkinson's "Wheeler"

 

Greetings as we welcome the first day of September 2024. Thank you for checking in on a Labor Day weekend.

 

Christmas In August Sale Closes at 9:00 PM

The Christmas in August Sale is in its final day and closes at 9:00 PM. Saturday sales were anemic and I'm grateful to loyal clients who did make a purchase to help out the consignors in the community. The decision to schedule a GFRC sale event during Labor Day weekend appears to have been flawed or, the sale lacks sufficient sub $350 coins to attract value buyers. This sale has me a bit perplexed but it is what it is...

The fact that the regular price list has also not seen any demand during the past 48 hours has me wondering....

 

Gerry Fortin Liberty Seated Dime Collection Auction Images Fully Posted

I'm please to report that progress continues for the forthcoming GFRC Online Auctions sales events that will take place during the first half of 2025.

Yesterday brought the image completion for the Gerry Fortin Liberty Seated Dime Collection. You are invited to click on the above auction banner to view that entire collection. The image processing for the marvelous Newtown Liberty Seated Half Dollar Collection is now underway with the goal of wrapping up this project segment in the next few days.

 

Dave Wilkinson's "Wheeler"

Much has been accomplished in the past month concerning the back acreage projects. First came Tip Line Tree Service to clear out a substantial amount of wooded area leading to an improved coastal horizon view. This event was followed by Dave Wilkinson and I working for two solid days last week to add another trail that does double duty as an access road for incremental coastal horizon tree clearing. One of the side projects of Dave's time on site was expanding existing cleared areas to allow access for his "wheeler" 16 yard dump truck. This "park" construction effort continues a large amount of gravel and crushed stone. Purchasing via large bulk deliveries can save me up to 20% of what is being paid for delivery via a smaller 6 yard dump truck. We have been using the smaller truck due to limited access. This matter was resolved last week.

Dave was back on site Saturday with a "wheeler" load of process gravel that contains 1.5" stone and crushed brick fragments. This material is ideal for constructing a hard packed trail surface as the crushed aggregate binds the gravel into place and will become rock hard once compressed.

Here is a quick snapshot of that delivery and insights into the Wilkinson "wheeler" truck that now can traverse into the wood trails. If looking carefully, the up hill gazebo can be seen under the elevated dump bed as a reference point.

 

Wrapping Up The Blog

That is all she wrote on an early Sunday morning. There were no overnight orders to process and respond to therefore I'm heading down to the back acreage and will continue working on multiple projects during the morning hours. If there are purchases orders, those will be responded to after lunch.

Thank you again for the visit.

Be well!

 

 

 

August 31, 2024

Christmas In August Sale Is Open for Orders...

 

Greetings and welcome to the Daily Blog on the final day of August 2024. Thank you for checking in.

I've been debating how to phrase today's headline for hours and decided to go with a neutral topic line. Let's get right to the point. The current Christmas in August Sale has been weakly subscribed to and is quite disappointing. It appears that collectors are focused elsewhere during the Labor Day weekend. So far, GFRC has sold five coins totaling $2100 or so. A visit to the Sales link and price list will quickly validate the lack of activity. As for the regular price list, it is crickets.

It is difficult to compose an upbeat Blog edition at this point as it appears that the numismatic market is on holiday too.

Friday brought time at the Cumberland County Courthouse with jury selection preparations for two significant criminal trials that will take place in September. The first is scheduled during the planned Maine Solar Solutions installation of our 23KW Powerwall3/PV system and the second is a 10 day affair that spans into October. I have valid excuses for both and will be communicating the Maine Solar situation once a formal email documenting the appointment is secured.

After returning from the courthouse, the weather was ideal for photographing the balance of the Newtown Liberty Seated Half Dollar Collection that will be auctioned during the first half of 2025. Auction preparation shifts to image processing at this point with the online catalog being populated with all images by the middle of the coming week. Len Augsburger has already started his cataloging effort for the Newtown halves.

That is all that there is to share. At this point, I'm taking the extra 1.5 hours that would typically be allocated to composing a long Blog edition and using that time to work on the back acreage projects. Kevin Johnson arrives at noon time with his trailer for another load of oak logs.

Thanks again for the visit and wishing everyone a super Labor Day weekend.

Be well!

 

 

August 30, 2024

Early Edition

Christmas In August Sale Is Ready!

265 Lots at a $430,000 Discounted Pricing Tally

 

Greetings from the GFRC office on a mid-Thursday afternoon and welcome to the ongoing saga that is entitled the Daily Blog.

After spending the day focused on preparing the 2024 Christmas in August Sale event, I'm happy to report that the sale is ready for its midnight launch and most pleased with the consignor participation rate. This will be a notable sale with 265 lots and a total discounted price tally of nearly $430,000! My trusty calculator indicates that the average discounted sale price per lot is $1622. The big guns have decided to step forward with important sale offers to entice the GFRC community.

My need to attend a jury selection at the Portland Courthouse is not guaranteed and I need to call in to check if my presence is requested. Let's hope that the Lord of Hard Working Chaps looks favorably on me and provides a pass on this civic duty.

I'll publish an update here once the courthouse disposition is known.

Yep, I'm heading to the courthouse for a slow morning of jury selection. At least cell phones are allowed which means that I can respond to Christmas in August Sale orders while killing time in the jury selection room.

A few words about the 2024 Christmas in August Sale. Though the average lot sale price is quite high, there are still many lots priced under $500, a level that value buyers enjoy participating at. Most notable in the sale is that the entire Newtown Collection Liberty Seated dimes and half dollars are discounted to varying levels. If seeking premium CAC approved Liberty Seated coinages, this sale taking pricing to the wholesale level in a number of cases. Shrewd collectors should take the time to study the special Christmas in August Sale listings as there are bargains to be had. Those who search diligently will be rewarded!

GFRC's U.S. gold is also well represented by the $2.5 and $5 denominations along with CAC approved lots. Again, there are value opportunities to consider.

Good luck to everyone to stays up until midnight on the East Coast as an early bird participant. The folks on the West Coast have an easier time with a 9:00 PM launch time!

I will be back throughout the weekend with sales updates.

Thanks in advance for your potential purchases.

Be well!

 

 

 

August 29, 2024

Christmas In August Sale Arrives at Midnight

and

Another Productive Day with Dave Wilkinson

 

Greetings on a late August Thursday morning and welcome to the Daily Blog. The summer ending Labor Day weekend arrives in the matter of hours at this point.

Today edition has two headline themes. The Christmas in August Sale countdown clock will hit the zero mark at midnight, therefore some discussion is warranted for those who are new to GFRC and its regular sales events. Then there is the work in the back acreage to share with several images and a discussion.

But first a story from yesterday morning...

Since composing and publishing the Blog on Tuesday evening, I was free to head down to the barn and fire up Johnny2 at 6:30 AM. The early morning goal was to complete the graveling of the new trail prior to Dave Wilkinson's arrival. Placing gravel on a freshly cut trail is necessary to smooth out the large divots that remain after the ground is torn up with an excavator. This allows for Johnny2's passage without an unnecessarily bumpy (and sometimes dangerous) ride.

The first load of gravel is scooped up with the tractor and off I go to the new trail. As I make a turn onto the trail, standing here is a large 2 point buck caught by surprise with my arrival. Actually, I was as surprised as he was. We both stopped and looked at each other for a moment but the buck gingerly heads into the woods. I then proceed to dump the load and return back on the trail. Standing on the trail is a doe which also takes a hard look at me as if she owns the place. The same happens with the doe moving into the woods. This cat and mouse game lasted for two more trips securing a front loader full of gravel and returning to the trail as the deer were strolling through the woods and watching me. How cool is that to start a day?

As chaotic as the Raymond post office can be with staffing issues, the post master is a great supporter of GFRC. Yesterday afternoon brought a phone call while I was in the woods as the postmaster was in my driveway with an Express shipment from CAC. She noted Dave Wilkinson's dump truck parked on the main path and assume we were working in the back acreage. I gladly authorized her to sign for me and leave the package in a special outdoor location. Here are the contents of that package. The GFRC Online Auction listings will be updated today to capture the new PCGS serial numbers and fresh CAC green beans. PCGS has also updated their database with the 1852-O added as the finest known by a wide gap over the six MS64s. The 1873 No Arrows Open 3 is now tied for finest per the population report.

 

Lastly, a seven piece Sheffield Collection lot was posted to the 30 Day Price List on Wednesday afternoon. Two of those lots are already on hold.

 

Christmas in August Sale Begins at Midnight

Yes, the Christmas in August Sale event is almost ready to launch at midnight! I still have a portion of discounting inputs to load followed by a final quality verification during the afternoon hours.

The 2024 Christmas in August Sale will offer roughly 200 discounted lots. Pricing discounts range from 8% to 25% with the majority appearing to be at the 10% level. Checking in at midnight ET is the imperative for gaining access to special deals. Notable are discounts from higher priced Liberty Seated dime and half dollar offerings from the Newtown and Oregon Beaver Collections among others.

The Christmas in August Sale is an important opportunity for both customers and GFRC. It is well known that GFRC does little if any wholesale trade with other dealers. Given this fact, the outlet for aged inventory is the GFRC customer base. Why not reward loyal GFRC customers with great values several times per year? Regardless of all the pricing guides and grading services, the numismatic hobby is still a subjective retail environment. Some coins are immediately scooped up by collectors while others will sit in inventory for a year or more due to a host of reasons. The GFRC sales events are an opportunity to readjust price points towards locating willing buyers.

Christmas in August Sale Instructions

Accessing the Christmas in August Sale price list is as simple as clicking on the black banner at the top of each GFRC price list page or the Daily Blog. Once the countdown clock reaches midnight ET, a separate price list will be available for download and shopping. Many of you have participated in a prior GFRC sales event and are old pros with navigating the special price list and its format. For those who are relatively new to the GFRC website and its sales operations, following are detailed usage instructions.

Accessing the Black Friday Weekend Sale List

- Click on the Christmas in August Sale white lettering on the black banner and wait for the price list to download. Please have patience when first downloading the Christmas in August Sale price list. The entire list and all coin images are downloaded at one time. Download time is much improved for this sale and should be less than 3-5 seconds. Of course, the download time can be variable based on your Internet service provider and access device bandwidth. With local Xfinity ISP provider, the GFRC download is almost instantaneous.

- Once in the price list, click on the product tabs to access individual price lists. DO NOT USE THE BACK BUTTON as this will take you outside the sale list and will require another download. When clicking on an icon image for high resolution photographs, these will open as a separate session in your browser. Once done viewing the high resolution image, please close that session. This will return you to the sale price list tab.

- Ordering a discounted coin is no different than shopping regular price lists. Simply click on the shopping cart icon to launch a pre-formated purchase email. If wishing to order multiple coins, a regular email listing those coins (denomination, date, grade, and price) should be issued. Come Friday morning, I will review all purchase emails on a FIFO basis and award purchases based on the order receive.

- The Christmas in August Sale price list will disappear on Sunday evening at 9:00 PM ET. At that time, discounted prices are no longer in effect with prices returning to prior levels for unsold lots.

A kind reminder that I am once again summoned to the Portland Maine courthouse on Friday morning for potential jury duty. The time is terrible for responding to initial early Friday morning orders. I will be up early and will respond to as many initial orders as possible. If you don't receive initial order confirmation, please have patience with me as I will be back on the job come once returning from the courthouse. If goes without saying that there will be no Blog edition tomorrow morning.

Have fun shopping tonight and during the next three days towards accessing some special deals on quality numismatic items.

 

Another Productive Day with Dave Wilkinson

Wednesday's day long effort with Dave Wilkinson saw much being accomplished in the back acreage park creation project. Yes, it is becoming clear to everyone including family, friends, and neighbors that I'm turning the back 20 acres into a memorable park.

Monday's new trail cutting was yet another case of building infrastructure for next step efforts. The new trail allows us to clear two large maple trees from the coastal horizon. However, we also cleared a spot on a steeply sloping downhill location for piling brush and stumps. This material, in an out of the way location, will remain there for years to naturally decompose. The brush and stump dumping point was put to good use on Wednesday as we cleared a new area adjacent to the incoming crushed stone and gravel staging area. Dave has nicknamed the area the Windham Rotary which is lovely center grassed and treed island at the center of the Windham roundabout. Here is an image of the smaller sized Windham Rotary as we are wrapping up for the day. Just hours before this image was taken, the area contained two large maple tree stumps that were dug out by Dave along with transporting a huge amount of buried brush and other stumps to the new dumping location. The fresh wood chips are from the Tip Line Tree Service clearing event of last week.

Also note the shaded rock pile at the left of the center island. This pile is the end of an original settler's agricultural stone wall that is buried by vegetation and ferns. Come the summer of 2025, this wall will be cleared and exposed for it natural beauty.

 

The primary goal for Dave's presence on Wednesday was installing a drainage ditch for the area behind the gazebo. The below image showcases the ditch with large rocks already being placed in the ditch as an initial step. This area now has a "V" shaped water flow, as marked with crushed stone and rip-rap rock leading into the large exiting channel. We also took the opportunity to clear out brush from the right of the drainage ditch for Johnny2's access as there is still much work to be done. The next steps are locating rip-rap sized field stone to place in between the large rocks before covering the channel with 1.5" crushed stone. Once completed, I will be able to drive over the drainage channel with Johnny2 for clearing brush from the adjacent area. So that everyone is properly orientated, the area behind the drainage ditch is the large settler's stone wall and the new Windham Rotary center island. Yes, I an nuts but having a lot of fun in the process.

 

Global Financial News

Equity markets were down on Wednesday with the S&P 500 dropping 0.60% to 5,592. Investors and traders are now 100% certain that there is an interest rate cut arriving after the FOMC meeting on September 17-18. From what I am reading, the odds are 65% for a 0.25% cut and 35% for a larger 0.50% cut. Several analysts that I follow believe that the 0.25% cut is already priced into the market and will have little impact on the economy. The key issue facing the Federal Reserve and its dual mandates of inflation and employment is that the unemployment rate is moving upward with history indicating that higher numbers can be expected in the coming months. Should the Fed go directly to a 0.50% rate cut to stimulate the economy at this point?

One thing that is certain is that spot gold continues to increase in value as the mid October BRICS meeting approaches. In London trading, gold is now quoting at $2522/oz. Silver just can't seen to hold the $30 with a current quote of $29.49/oz.

The 10 Year Treasury bond yield stands at 3.83% while the U.S. dollar is trending at the 101.2 level. A weaker dollar will eventually mean that foreign investments in U.S. dollar denominated assets might start moving to other global markets. This monetary realignment must be closely watched as 2025 arrives for potential investment portfolio allocations.

Morning market futures are showing some trader optimism with a 0.25% gain at the onset of trading.

 

What is Gerry Up To Today?

My overriding goal is wrapping up the preparation work for the Christmas in August Sale. Discounting inputs from about ten consignors were loaded yesterday with the balance being completed by the afternoon hours. I am religiously sending confirmation emails after each consignor's inputs are loaded.

By late afternoon, the entire sale catalog will debugged as I have a special preview tool in the COIN database. Once the debugging is done, it will certainly be happy hour and preparing clothes for tomorrow morning's Portland courthouse jury selection session.

So ends a long Blog edition. Good luck to everyone who plans to conduct some value shopping in the Christmas in August Sale auction that launches at midnight.

Be well!