Should I post my pending newp here before I've even mailed the check on it?

There are three nice newps coming, actually.

Being the eclectic soul I am, they're from the three main categories in my Box of 20.

1. Is an Ancient coin.
2. Is a World coin.
3. Is a US coin.

We're only discussing the Ancient here.

I am swapping away the most valuable coin in my set, essentially splitting that investment into these three pieces.

So yes, they are, in my humble opinion, all very nice coins on my budget.

My most valuable single piece (@$2,300) has been my most valuable (monetarily, not sentimentally) by a factor of more than 2x. It is/was the only one I paid a four-figure price for.

So now everything in my collection will have had a <$1K pricetag. I'm more comfortable with that, really. On my salary, I don't have any business buying or holding four-figure coins. I'll stay in three-figure territory (if only just). Granted, I do have three or four that are arguably worth >$1K (if only just). And one of these new three was a $975 coin, so barely below the $1K ceiling.

I swapped my keystone coin to a dealer who is sending me Coin #2 and Coin #3 mentioned above (the World and US coins). There was money left over to my credit, so I'm getting a check, too.

That check will buy Coin #1 (the Ancient) with a little to spare.

I told the dealer who is sending Coins #2 and 3 that I'll keep mum about the deal until both parties express satisfaction and it's a done deal. (The commitment is made but shipping and final approvals are pending.)

I have committed to buy Coin #1 (the Ancient) regardless, and will, one way or another. So I have not promised to keep mum on that, but I will, until somebody guesses what it is. That dealer is just giving me the courtesy of waiting until the first dealer's check gets to me. The two dealers know and do business with each other, so it's kind of a triangle.

All three coins i am getting are already third-party certified and graded, as was the one I'm trading away (it is also fourth-party certified, by CAC). Not that most of you will care a fig that the Ancient is already in NGC plastic.

(Except perhaps my fellow misguided plasticizer @Deacon Ray, LOL. And FWIW, it'll be the first NGC "star" I've had, so I can emulate @Zohar444 in a tiny way- he has more "stars" than Hollywood.)

Now, the remaining question is whether I'm going to expand my Box of 20 into a Box of 25 (I've actually been using a 25-slot slab box for a year). Or will I stick with a limit of 20 and then have some extras to sell? Time will tell.

(Looking up at my post now. Dang, I type too much, don't I? Maybe I should have a self-imposed word limit instead of a coin limit, huh? Geez.)

 

OK, @stevex6 - you totally nailed it. Guessing game over. And so soon, too.

... or ... not.

 

Nobody's even come close to guessing the Ancient Newp.

Though there's a hint that's been repeated several times now.

Seems quite blatant to me, but that's because it's my collection. Anyone else might have missed the hint.

I feel like somebody that got a (subtle but noticeable) new hairdo or shirt, and nobody noticed. LOL

 

No, but I will be getting a new cap with one of these transactions, actually (not the one involving the ancient coin we're guessing at).

No, but those are neat.

 

The $2300 coin was the half-eagle, so yes, technically my daughter's, but she's not into collecting and is letting me play around with her investment (which came from the old Victorian type set I built her in 2001-2012). Swapping away the Dahlonega half-eagle rids me of a US coin (which are slightly less interesting to me), but I'll be getting a different US coin, as mentioned. Whether my new "investments" flop in the ten years or so before my daughter "cashes out" remains to be seen. She'll get some money from me regardless, so it's like she has a $2300+ IOU and is totally fine with that.

You're right that some pruning of the set is due. The Amisos owl is one of the lower value coins but recent (I got it in December), and I like owls, so it'll stay for a little while. The Septimius Severus has been "on deck" for removal from the box for a while. Not that it's a bad coin at all. I rather like it, in fact. But I like all of 'em, of course. So yes, the SeptSev will go before too long.

But I do think I'm going to expand to a Box of 25 soon (the actual size of my box- I've been using the five spare slots for pieces "in transit" and a magnifier and stuff). I don't think stretching to 25 will be diluting things too much.

Nobody's seen the hint, eh? Well, it's popped up several times. Here it comes again, in just a moment...

 

That's your three-piece Yap Island minor-denominations type set, right?

 

Um. Quite possibly?

But only when I'm in the manic cycle of my bipolarity.

When the pendulum swings to the other (depressive) extreme, I can spend up to two or three months being a reclusive hermit, not posting at all, and not even looking at my coins.

I run hot and cold. Fortunately I do hit equilibrium between cycles, when I can be relatively "normal".