Way to go Mark! Just got my issue of CoinValues with my CoinWorld mag---pg. 66 of CoinValues: "Specialist collector Mark M. Hooten notes that to qualify as full steps (five or six steps), steps must extend uninterrupted from the left to the right buttresses. The steps cannot meet anywhere in between nor can the steps be joined by contact marks or "tags" of metal. Any contact marks must be minor and must not fully break any step. Contact marks that are centrally positioned may disqualify the coin from having the full steps designation." To be quoted by a numismatic publication as to the correct way to grade the steps on the Jeff series, deserves acclaim! Now if we could just get ALL the TPGCs to follow this criteria, we'd be much better off! Forgot to give deserved credit for the Buffalo Round Up article. Read it but didn't notice the author! Outstanding work!
Hoot is really a hoot !! This guy knows his stuff when it comes to nickels and many of his articles have been published in various magazines. Congrats on another And ya know what - he's even a nice guy in person. Not as nice as his brother of course - but hey - a guy can't be everything Couldn't resist Hoot
Why, YES! he is! My brother represents the "sane" part of my family when it comes to this hobby! Thank you ALL! (And thank you GDJMSP for that sidelong compliment, something about "nice!" ) I appreciate anyone who takes the time to look at those articles. They are great fun to write (well, usually!) and I hope that the articles will attract some new folks to our hobby, as well as open up some new possibilities for the "seasoned but stale." LOL! I must say, I was asked to write one recently on proof coinage that will appear in the September issue of Coin Values). It required quite a bit of research for me and I had to take a fair bit of rather disjunct and technical information, then boil it down into something interesting and appealing to a wide audience. This was quite tough! In the end, it turned out to be a stylistic nightmare! Bill Gibbs of Coin World staff edited the article to apply the UPI style and the nuances of the CW style. Gads, I ended up with a CW style manual and an invitation to read it! HA! Alas, it will prove handy, I'm sure, but about as fun to learn as 6th grade english. Thanks again for the kudos! And I need to check in here more often! Hoot
