stgecko's Page

This 1 oz. coin was purchased due to it's extremely low production. It's the lowest production on any of the 1 oz. coins, Proof or Unc. What I can't understand is when I go to different auctions to see what the coins are going for the Proof is selling for more even though it has the higher mintage of the two. This coin comes from a mintage of 4063 or so and the Proof comes from a mintage of 5100 or so. As you can see both mintages are quite… Continue

Why oh why when people talk of the Lincoln centennial coins don't they include the best one of all? For me that's the 1918 Illinois centennial coin with the very nice portrait of Lincoln. I think it's an even better looking bust than the new commemoratives.

I see, on tv and in ads, that when people are selling sets of coins celebrating the Lincolns they show the four new cent coins and the new dollar commemorative. They pass right on by the 1918 coin. In my opinion it would simply add… Continue

Now that I've taken most of the year off from buying any coins I wonder if I got in too far last year. I spent around 15K on early commemoratives. I tended to think that I could get all 144 coins with a grade of MS65 or better. Grant it it got me a hell of a start on my collection as I have many very nice looking coins. When I stop and think how much more I need to spend I'm starting to realize I don't think I can finish in my life time w/o getting an influx of cash from someone else. I'm… Continue

I've been thinking. Since I already have all the Modern Commemorative Half dollars and all the Kennedy's and some of the Franklin's and about a third of the Early Commemorative half's then maybe I should be buying the other half's instead of just Early Commemoratives. On regular half dollars I go as far back as 1956 in Proof and 1957 in Unc., both Denver and Philadelphia mints and San Francisco where applicable. Who knows maybe buying some Franklin's for a while might save me some money as the… Continue

Most books I read on newly minted coins state that the quality is so good that they are graded either 69 or 70 right off the bat. So this makes me think why. Why bother spending the money on grading it. I realize that bumping a coin from 69 to 70 makes the holder more valuable but why buy the holder when its the coin you're after? Most people can't tell the difference from a 69 to a 70 w/o the aid of a microscope. So again I ask why. Sure I've purchased coins graded 70 but only when the cost of… Continue