My mailbox runneth over! Wanna look over my shoulder as I open some packages? :-)

Time to open another.

Item #6.

A rather fat bubble mailer from Florida.

At this particular moment, I'm as clueless about its contents as y'all are, at least until I find something to open it with...

 

Aha. Bubble wrap inside. That explains the fatness of the package.




Item #6 is another "crusty" circulated Morgan dollar for my "Greysilver Album" (Dansco #7172).




It's a 1903 (-P), and not bad looking, I think. (These are auto-adjusted cellphone pics, with not the best focus.)

 

Today's lunch is Mac & Cheese with lots of bacon crumbles, some shallots, and a little bit of dried boletus luteus mushroom sprinkled on.

Flash the Cat approves.

 

I'll admit with the food and cat pictures I did (subconsciously?) rip off Charmy a little bit. But her awesome travelogues are much more respectable. Some fat slob in a dumpy trailer in Georgia opening his mail while eating in bed, with cats everywhere (let's not even discuss the farting- theirs OR his) is not quite so upscale and chic as a jet-setting show report from The Penny Lady.

That being said, my next package IS from France. Ooh-la-la!

I know what this one is!

And I've been looking forward to seeing it.

How 'bout you?

(Hint: it is an "Eclectic Box" purchase, as you probably could have guessed.)

 

Oh, look at the little folder inside!

It is plain to see that we're dealing with a very classy establishment, here.

I wish the coin inside matched the one on the cover!




Look, even their discount coupon is sophisticated and classy.



But I think what's inside this little pouch is what we've all come here to see, isn't it?




Flash the Cat, too, apparently.

No, Flash. G'wan, now. Buzz off. This isn't food.




FLASH!!! GET OFF MY NEW COIN!!!

 

There. That's better. Go take a nap on the other side of the bed.





Sheesh!

Sorry for the interruption. Where were we?

Oh, yeah.

It's time to open that little packet that Flash so rudely stepped on, and finally see my newp from France! Yay!

Stand by...

 

Et voilà! Item #7!




Below is how it looks in the Eclectic Box lineup, using the seller's photos. There will be a trip to PCGS in its near future, and that will come with TrueView imaging.

The toning is a bit darker in hand than I had expected, but that's not a bad thing, and it's attractive. There are traces of iridescence not seen in either the seller's pictures or my own quickie cellphone shots.

France: silver jeton (insurance token) engraved by Ernest-Paulin Tasset, 1869

(Presently uncertified; ex-Numiscorner)

 

So let's see... that's seven pieces of mail, if I counted correctly, and there are still three to go!

Next up is another Eclectic Box purchase.

If I recognize the sender's name correctly, we're about to see another United States coin.

 

Aha! Item #8 is the Chief, and his Buffalo buddy!

I won't even try to shoot decent photos here. I'll follow up my nasty cellphone shots with the sweet photos taken by "crazyhounddog" over on Collectors Universe, who, as some of you may know, is a Buffalo nickel demigod, and a former owner of this coin.

This piece was the topic of a recent thread and GTG (guess the grade) poll.

 

Next, an eBay purchase.

"Super-Dude's Trading Post". Fun business name. Sounds like something you'd name a surf shop.




I know what this one is gonna be, and I'm interested to see it, because Super Dude's photos were far from ideal- they showed acres of uncropped empty space around a tiny dot of a coin in the middle. (You know the type of eBay photo- some folks call 'em "moonshots", 'cause it looks like they were taken from the moon.)

Of course it's just a tiny dot of a coin to begin with. This might surprise you, but I believe the coin we're about to see might actually a bit smaller than the tiny ancient Greek one posted earlier! Or around the same size, anyway.

I've seen several sellers using these eBay-branded mailers.



Maybe they get 'em in bulk, at a decent price?

I might need to check into that. I wonder where to look for them?

(Haha- just kidding in that last sentence.)

 

Thanks, Quintuiple-D. I'm glad there have been some readers. As with so many things I've gotten myself into, this turned out to be a lot more work than I thought it would be initially, what with all the picture taking and editing and posting and drivel commentary to be posted.

It's taken all weekend just to open my mail!

But it's been fun.

Let me see if I can get a usable photo of Item #9.

It is indeed tinier than the ancient Greek coin. By a fair margin.

Which is amazing. I begin to understand why Super-Dude had difficulty photographing it.

But it's a gold coin, and has some attractive, pinkish toning, which I may or may not be able to capture...

 

Item #9 is supposedly a gold fanam from India, but might even be a fractional fanam. I have no idea what Princely State it would have come from, or even whether or not it's a modern fantasy. It has an elephant on it, which is cool, but according to something @panzerman posted in another thread, that could be a strong indicator that it is a fantasy issue.

I'd be OK with that- I mean, it's still gold (though extremely tiny) - and it has an elephant on it, which is fun, and it is nicely toned.

But it cost forty bucks. I knew i was going out on a limb here, but was willing to take a chance.

@jwitten- look! Toned gold for $39.99!

 

Last but not least, we have Item #10 ... Saturday's package.

From one of you, as it happens.

 

And there we have it, folks. All weekend to open my mail, with some cat pictures and lunch and lunacy along the way.

Thanks for peeking over my shoulder. I didn't mind a bit, except for maybe that time when you sneezed.

You should have told me you were allergic to cats.

Oops. Almost forgot the last pictures.

 

Oh, I forgot. I promised you some submission results back in Post #36.

The package on the counter at WNC Coins (@Aethelred's shop).




I "piggybacked" three of my medieval coins on his NGC submission.

My 1400s Gelderland goldgulden and 1500s Brabant Carolus d'or were previously "details" graded by PCGS, and I thought I'd try for a straight grade. Additionally, my 1200s Seljuk dirham was not encapsulated by PCGS, apparently because they consider it to be an ineligible type (i.e., something they don't grade). So I thought I'd try that one at NGC, too.

And now, the results...

 

It was a complete, unmitigated disaster.



Three bodybags. Zero for three!

A complete washout! Ugh.

Apparently NGC, which has a reputation for grading more World Coins than PCGS (and is therefore at least perceived to be more experienced with non-US material), considered all three of my coins ineligible types.

Worst submission results I've ever gotten. On three coins I happen to like very much.

This means the Seljuk coin is essentialy unslabbable by PCGS and NGC, despite being a handsome example of a very popular type. And the two gold pieces are raw again, unslabbable by NGC for inexplicable reasons, and if I want them to be TPG-certified, I'll have to pay for yet another submission (to PCGS again, or ANACS). And they're not likely to straight-grade anyway.

And yet all three coins are nice examples of their types, with better eye appeal for the grade than any other examples I have seen.

So I'm in a dilemma.

My "Eclectic Box" is a collection of certified coins. There aren't a lot of self-imposed restrictions on it, but the "coins must eventually be certified by PCGS or NGC" rule still stands.

So what should I do with these three now?

• Sell them and use the proceeds to buy something else; maybe one really nice coin?
• Try them at ANACS?
• Send the gold back to PCGS, which would be their third submission to a TPG, and likely to bring only "details" grades, which would require me to make an exception to my "straight grades only" preference?
• Find plastic slab-style holders I can snap them into, put 'em into the box like that, and make an exception to my "slabs only" rule so I can keep them?

I'm not sure what I'll do. Keeping these three is going to require me to rethink my self-imposed standards in one way or another. The only other option is to sell them, probably at a loss, since I've already got too much tied up in the Gelderland piece as it is.

Tricky, because I like all three coins. (If I didn't, there would be no dilemma here- I would just get rid of them.)

This slabby game has both benefits and drawbacks. It can certainly be a headache sometimes.

Thanks for listening.

 

I think you should begin by selling or trading your Dirham for something to take it's place, as the other two coins are at least eligible for grading at PCGS. You've got time to figure out what to do with those.