A lesson on Saint-Gaudens Double Eagles

To be honest ? No... too late... tomorrow eventually

 

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Roy, I suggest you create a thread of your own to discuss your coin. I'm sure it would make for a great discussion in itself.

 

Yeah this thread was created for the educational purpose of teaching everyone about the Saint-Gaudens double eagle series.

 

One thing I noticed is that you make it sound like the 1907 Arabic date is a pattern. It is a regular issue.

 

Next time take a taxi.......

 

An interesting summary as always, Josh. I would strongly suggest going back over your article a second, third, and fourth time before you publish to not only ensure accuracy of facts (to avoid mistakes like $750 vs $750,000) and check for typos, but also to proof read. Make sure your sentences are complete sentences, and make sure things that need to be capitalized are, and things that don't need to be aren't.

I know it probably seems like a silly thing to nitpick, but little things like proper capitalization go a very long way to make your article come off as professional and well thought-out. I'm sure you put a lot of time into your pieces -- take the extra time to polish the material so it can be presented to the audience in the best possible light.

 

Uhhhhhhhh..........no kidding! For example:

"Interesting Fact: The 1933 king Farouk double eagle was almost lost forever. After the Secret service confiscated the coin in 1952 they stored it in the treasury vaults in the world trade center. Luckily a settlement was reached just 2 months before the terrorist attack took place on 9/11/01."

The World Trade Center did not exist in 1952 and the Farouk coin was confiscated in 1996.

Simple stuff like this should be caught prior to posting these "factual posts". Especially since CT gives you less than 24 hours to edit your post.

Good Effort though........

 

Man I screwed this one up big time.

 

Instead of trying to do these huge, all-encompassing posts covering the entirety of "all Saint Gaudens Double Eagles", or "All Colonial Coins", it might be better to narrow your scope until you really catch your rhythm. Everything takes practice, even writing articles on subjects you know.

You could try breaking it down into smaller pieces, or doing a more in-depth study of one particular date or variety instead of the entire history of a series. Because you attempt to tackle such vast subjects the material you cover is generally "common knowledge" (in numismatic circles at least), but if you were to focus on one specific characteristic, year, or historical story you might find you have an easier time writing your articles.

 

You didn't so much screw it up as you simply didn't do as Amanda suggested in this thread (and others in threads past). The type is over 100 years old and CoinTalk will still be here tomorrow, so there's no reason to rush to post. Take your time and put it aside as many times as you feel is necessary until you've triple-checked everything and are positive you're providing correct information. Also, and as an aside, don't try or expect to "teach everyone about...." anything. If you're going to write such articles, decide on a target audience and tailor to what you think are their needs and/or may interest them.

 

Heck Josh, you're a student. This should be rote.......

 

Josh.
Remember who your audience is. There are many people here who sell coins for living. There are many people here who have been collecting longer then you have been alive. While my own knowledge base is somewhat limited I have been collecting longer then you have been alive. (Depressing fact of aging). You basically are relatively new to collecting (compared to many people here) and clearly want to be taken seriously. My sincere advice is that you should listen to the feedback you are getting. You have been told multiple times to proofread. I would recommend having someone more experienced read your posts prior to posting them. And listen to Amanda. Pick a very specific topic. I may be wrong but if I had to guess I would say you are using a very limited number of resources for you information. It comes across as if you read one article and then rewrote it. You will sound more professional if you start citing references with footnotes and have the references listed at the end of your article. It will also help you with accuracy.

When i was 15 I was working for a dealer in the summer and making 4-5 digit deals independently. But I knew absolutely nothing then compared to what is needed to trade at that level. All I could do is look at grey sheets and compare them to the pcgs/ngc slabs. I really wanted to be taken seriously then as much as you appear to now. I still want to be taken seriously now here but I don't have a tenth of the knowledge many posters here have. The difference is I know what I don't know. In life there is nothing more important to know then knowing what you don't know.

I end up saying this to all the time to my students on the job and I'll modify it for you. No one comes out of the womb a coin expert. Relax and learn. If you focus more on learning you will be taken a lot more seriously. Remember this is not easy. These people here are professionals. I kind of feel like I went to a circ du soleil show and you are outside the tent trying to do back flips. The people (other then me) here are true professionals. If you quit college and went it work for a coin dealer for 20 years you might then be able to speak to them at the level you want to.

I'm not telling you to stop or give up. I'm trying to tell you that you if you focus on learning you will have more success. Listen to feedback.
Good luck.

 

Pretty sage advice there Vegas Vic - not just for numismatics.

 

Great post Vic. This is the one thing that most youth aren't comfortable with, so I highlighted it.

Josh, just know that you don't know everything and me comfortable with that! Lot's of great advice in the above posts. Please look at it as constructive criticism and use it to improve your skills.

It's obvious you have the passion, the desire to learn and share that knowledge. Those are good things. Now you just need experience and that takes time.

 

@Vegas Vic is wise, indeed.

 

@josh's coins, one more suggestion -- before linking to your "Lesson On Saint-Gaudens Double Eagles" in your signature, you probably want to do as everyone has mentioned and go back and proof read. There are still a ton of errors all through the article!

 

I need an editor. I reread this thing 5x before posting and it is still full of errors. I want to write good articles that really help people learn a thing or 2 whether you're a professional or newcomer. The problem is that I've just never been very great at writing or perhaps it may be that I'm not great at editing.

 

Maybe you just need practice at editing. You're a student -- I'm sure you can do this. Heck, take it step by step. Scan through slowly once only looking for capitalization mistakes. Scan through a second time looking only for sentence structure. Eventually you can do it all at once.

But saying you can't do it and not even trying to learn how won't get you very far, especially since you seem to love to write these articles and want to continue to do so.

Practice, practice, practice.

 

In college still, right? So take a writing course. If I remember correctly you're an engineering or something technical major so it would probably be benefical for a little more exposure to writing. This is what I would do.