Posted by Brkdnc

I know PCI is not one of the top “best” companies for getting coins graded, but from some of the scans I have seen on E-bay some of the newer companies are really, really screwed up on grading. One example I saw a Liberty nickel graded VF-20 by SEGS that by looking at the picture it was AT BEST G-4.

I really can’t afford to pay the $25-$30 to have some of the coins I want graded, graded at this time. I am not talking about getting Gem Morgan’s and the really high buck coins graded. I just want to get some of my circulated Semi key and Key dates graded for protection and way down the road maybe to sell. So I don’t want to spend a lot on a coin that’s worth a C-note or two.

I have been out of the collecting loop for over 7 years and most of the better stuff I have has at least doubled in price over those years. Which was a GREAT surprise and I want to keep them nice so I want to slab some of the better ones I have acquired.

So I really want your opinion on them as a grading company. Would you consider them # 5 after the big 4 PCGS, NGC, IGC, ANACS? If not why?

I want everybody's honest opinion.

Posted by juice

After taking several years off from coin collecting I recently rediscovered the hobby and quickly found myself in the thick of it and hooked just as strong. I have been lurking on the forums for some time now but I decided to take the plunge and start posting.

With the prices of silver starting to rise my father and I decided to invest in bulk "junk silver" bags from a local metals exchange and I've really enjoyed going over huge numbers of silver coins cherry picking overlooked dates and nicer condition coins.

So far in the last 2-3 weeks we've searched the following:

(3) 500$ FV Bags - Half Dollars
(3) 500$ FV Bags - Dimes
(1) 500$ FV Bag - Quarters

All bags contained all 90% silver coins (well they were supposed to anyways..) except for 1 of the half dollar bags which had about 90 40% Kennedy halves. We ended up taking them back and trading them for 90% coins. All in all they bags consisted of much of what you would expect: many worn AG-F coins, some BU later year 90% silver and the occasional AU older date coin. Before we started the first bag we really expected to find a lot of later date silver but we were very very surprised to find that not to be the case.

The first 2 half dollar bags were about 85% Walking Liberty halves and about 10% Franklin halves. A lot of mid-late 30s Libertys and even a few in the 20s. We also found a great number of F-VF Walking Liberties and many AU Franklins. The dimes were also a big win. The first 2 bags were loaded with Mercury dimes. The first bag consisting of about 75% Mercury (even a hand full of Barber dimes) and the 2nd being about 40% Mercury. The quarters were mostly Washington but we found a lot of nice condition coins in there.

The only downer bags we had were 1 dime (99.8% Roosevelts - though many in the late 40s) and 1 half dollar bag which was about 95% Franklins. I think we were a bit spoiled with the first few bags.

I'm still sorting through them taking a closer look for errors / dd's and mint marks to try and single out the gems. I hope to do a large summary of the project at some point and give the break downs for dates by coin types including any variation finds.

I'm curious if anyone else has been doing this and what your experiences have been. Ever find anything of great or decent value? I imagine that even if they had previously been searched for key dates there may be a possibility for some nice variation or semi-rare date coins.

Any tips on what to focus my searches on?

Hi everybody. New to your community. I would like to ask all of you if any 40 percent silver copper 1964, or any 1965 90 percent silver transitional Kennedy Half dollars really exist or are known? I read that there is supposed to be at least one 1964 on a 1965 planchet. Does it really exist? And how about the visa versa, 65 on 64? If they are real, are there any pictures available? And if so, what would they be worth? Any thoughts? Guesses work just fine.

Occasionally I see coins for sale on HSN. Are they usually over priced and has anyone bought from them? Just wondering because I see they have page after page of coins on there web site. They also have a 2 hour coin show tonight. I have done some comparing to e-bay prices and HSN seems pretty high priced.

Just received my Nebraska quarters from the mint and have to admit they were mighty fast in shipment. The finish on all the coins is above the their normal standard and most of the coins are in relatively good shape for circulation type coins. Now a quick comment or two about the design.

If you know anything about that part of the country, you recognize the landscape around "chimney rock'' in western Nebraska. You also know that the Oregon trail is located south of chimney rock, which brings up the next point. The wagon and oxen are apparently traveling the wrong direction (east) as the rock would be looking in a northerly direction. It would be late in the day as the sun is setting in the west. Guess who ever it is in the wagon has been as far as they intended to go and has started back home again to Indiana.

Take a look and see if you don't agree that they did the scene backwards!