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Sheik Sheck

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Journal Entries posted by Sheik Sheck

  1. Sheik Sheck
    This note was recently returned from grading. I am growing fond of the new holders. They seem to have solved the problem of crooked notes and bulging ridges between the note and label compartments. Track and Price lists only 13 large notes and one Value Back. The VB listed is a $20 so this is new to then census. When I received the note from the seller, I could smell the strong tint of tobacco! If only this note could speak. I am sure the yellow color is a result of cohabiting with a smoker for a long time. However, in the holder, no one will ever know!!
     


  2. Sheik Sheck
    This Thomas Flynn Fr. 774 "battleship" note was sold for $6,037.50 in April of 2008.
    The same note sold for $4,312 in 2014.
    I just picked it up at auction for $3231.75. This is 46% reduction in 9 years. I wish there would be a really good article on how much the currency market has softened quite a bit. One vendor says the premium for low serial number specimens has dropped out the bottom. Interesting since there are Bison notes and other low serial number notes still going for several hundred thousand dollars up to over a million. It seems one needs to be really careful with the premium on low serial number notes. I never thought it was worth it anyway. I thought it was an interesting and nice feature to have but never bought notes for any serial number feature (low #, ladders, radars etc....) Happy collecting. 

  3. Sheik Sheck
    I can't find the $5 note!?!? Other than that, this is an awesome collection I put together. They are all graded but finding notes with the same signatures for all the denominations was not easy. I really enjoy putting sets like this together. Comments would be nice!!
  4. Sheik Sheck
    Happy New Year! I stumbled upon Lawrence and his exquisite signature he was not only representing the bank I collect (Ch#252), but also apparently lived in the neighboring state. I assume bank presidents were equally mobile in the early 20th century, looking for the best job. Looks like he lived in both Pennsylvania and West Virginia. 
     

  6. Sheik Sheck
    After shopping for the vaunted Bison for several years, I finally made the plunge. I am trying to pick up only EPQ when at all possible since observing sales, the slightest comment can cause the price to be extremely volatile. The most minor of comments, NET or not, seems to reduce the price by quite a bit. I'd like to hear your opinions. Bank Note Reporter noted that recent auctions seem to ding notes with "closed pinholes" or "minor repairs." PMG tends to obscure the topic by assigning NET in a somewhat arbitrary fashion. NET can really kill the value of a note, no matter how minor the flaw. Thus, please enjoy my EPQ Fr-122!!


  8. Sheik Sheck

    Found at Coin Shop

    By Sheik Sheck,

    This little old lady always seems to have some nice stuff. I love being able to locate good stuff that is ungraded and has potential. I was looking through her rotation case and found this Dallas FRBN. We started talking and she pulled out of her special drawer 100 star notes and a local Type 2 NBN, I was thrilled. When I bought the 100 consecutive star notes ($800) she gave me a good deal on the FRBN ($32) and the LaGrange note ($250). I sent them in promptly for grading. 




  9. Sheik Sheck

    Must See

    By Sheik Sheck,

    If you want to really feel like your collection is small and futile, check out the Bebee collection at the ANA museum website. You can see just about any rarity you could hope for. DDR70... you will salivate at the high denomination, territorial NBN's. It's just an astounding collection! http://www.ana-museum.org
  10. Sheik Sheck

    CH #252

    By Sheik Sheck,

    I am trying to complete a set from one national bank set. I chose the First National Bank of Pittsburgh (Ch #252) because I originally bought an ungraded 1902 $5 Plain Back. It graded 35 EPQ and the signature of the bank president Lawrence Saunders is a wonderful signature. Also, this is a common bank with many notes so I thought the chances of getting most of the denominations would be better. It's not as easy as I thought. I rarely see the large denomination notes for sale. If anyone can help, I am BUYING CH #252's. Notice the the cashier was C.C. Taylor on the large notes and is also the same cashier on the small Type 1 notes! C.C must have worked at the bank as a cashier for many years. Anyone else trying to do a collection like this??

  11. Sheik Sheck
    Heritage Auctions posts scans that are not realistic either!!
    Heritage says, "The margins are outstandingly large for this type, and the gold inks are as deeply colorful as we have ever seen them. PMG likely saw some very minor flaw with the note out of the holder, but in the holder its obvious original embossing along with its other attributes makes it look like a 65 EPQ to us.
    From The Yuri Solovey Collection"
    Now look at their scan compared to mine once I received the note. When will this monkey business stop!!?? I expect it from Ebay trolls, but a fine Auction House??

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  13. Sheik Sheck
    How about FOUR different signature pairs for a single bank. Two of the notes show the cashier presumably promoted to the President. And C.C. Taylor, the cashier quite common on the Ch # 252 notes is President on the 1929 small versions from this Charter. I wish someone could explain this bank's storied signatute lines. Obviously the "FirstSecond NB" merged to become the First NB but the multiple signatures requires some research of which I haven't done yet. 
  15. Sheik Sheck
    I finally had it graded. I picked the note up for a very nice price ungraded. There are several notes that were preserved with about the same serial number range so the lack of extreme rarity makes these notes of less value. I have seen several of the CH# 1555 in $10 and $20 denominations sold at auction. They are always graded and always seem to be AU or Unc with the EPQ designation. So, as I have posted before, these type of notes are not graded for a reason and here is it this time. When I received the note, it was clearly AU or Unc so I thought it had probably been flattened. This time it did not grade NET but it was commented as "Previously Mounted" I always thought that meant it was in another holder and cut out and sent without the previous holder to another grading service. Matarcat showed a CGA $50 note mounted in a CGA 62....he cut it out sent it to PMG and was delighted it came back as a PMG 63. I wondered why they didn't put "Previously Mounted" on his note. So I called PMG. Maybe I am educating some of you. "Previously Mounted" was detected as remnant of adhesive on the corners which was probably because the note was in a frame or something like that with adhesive tape or something to hang it. I checked the corners before I sent it and I could not see any problems but PMG did. I asked them not to place it but they said they had to. Can anyone see the presence of adhesive on the corners? Anyway it graded out as 62, not EPQ. A mixed blessing. I don't think I lost money but I don't thin it is super valuable like I had hoped for. Moral of story...buy an ungraded note, and you may get lucky and get a fantastic grade making the note worth far more than you paid, but if you buy a relatively rare, expensive, especially old note ungraded, it is probably for a reason. How many experts looked at this note under magnification, saw the remnants of adhesive and balked on purchasing or sending it for grading because they know it was worth more ungraded? On another note, I am so disappointed in this Journal board. I hoped it would be active and teach us all a lot. Instead, I post more than anyone, rarely get a response and when writing, feel like this hobby is so obscure, it's all a waste of time. Anyway, here are the images. 


  17. Sheik Sheck
    Hey ddr70, I was checking out your nice Large Nationals and noticed your Newton, Mass note. It has the rare Woods-Tate signature combo. Attached is New York Dunbar of the same ilk. You ay be aware but Peter Huntoon wrote a nice article in the April 2019 Bank Note Reporter about the rarity of the combo. Attached is also a .jpg of the article and the banks that issued such notes. 


  20. Sheik Sheck
    Educating all on the difference between CGA and PMG
    As the esteemed Matarcat says, treat CGA as ungraded when purchasing.Note, the even though PMG did not assign it "NET" another surprise was the note had been "Retouched", impossible for most to realize before sending in for grading.

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  21. Sheik Sheck

    Example of Bad

    By Sheik Sheck,

    I did business with the purveyor of these notes. Note the tape as the holder fell apart. Fortunately I don't see many of these holders anymore but it was not a good way to begin collecting, doing business with a person that doesn't care about long term customer relations as opposed to making a quick buck. If you do see these holders, treat them as CGA or ungraded notes as the owner was grading and selling notes at the same time. I still find it hard to believe that ungraded note sellers on Ebay fetch top retail dollar . People just don't understand that large size old notes are not graded for a reason. The note has certainly been inspected  by professionals, probably dozens of times. They are not graded because there is some small flaw that translates into hundreds or even thousands of dollars for high dollar large notes. And folks bid these notes up to full retail based on the sellers description "Strong XF, Choice Unc., check out my 100% feedback"...etc. 

  22. Sheik Sheck
    The reverse of the note from the sellers advertisement. To refresh your memory, here is the note description.
    "On the want lists of many collectors, but rarely ever offered. Most seen are very low grade and ugly. Examples in mega high grade like this one here tonight, are very few and far between. Incredible design with a portrait of Lincoln, and nicknamed the "Porthole Note". This specimen is near uncirculated with just very minor handling(see enlarged scans). Premium paper quality is crisp and bright with bold inking. Gem centering. Sharp edges and corners. A great opportunity, as these notes rarely come around. An excellent addition to your collection."

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  23. Sheik Sheck
    Lesson on what is advertised versus what the truth is....
    This is Picture 1 from the seller, a picture of the obverse of the note. Notice how the note look beautiful and white. Here is the description by the seller...
    "On the want lists of many collectors, but rarely ever offered. Most seen are very low grade and ugly. Examples in mega high grade like this one here tonight, are very few and far between. Incredible design with a portrait of Lincoln, and nicknamed the "Porthole Note". This specimen is near uncirculated with just very minor handling(see enlarged scans). Premium paper quality is crisp and bright with bold inking. Gem centering. Sharp edges and corners. A great opportunity, as these notes rarely come around. An excellent addition to your collection."

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  24. Sheik Sheck
    Ungraded notes are sucking your wallet
    Ungraded notes steal from your pocket. Why would a rare gold certificate from 1882 be ungraded? They are so rare, just about every dealer has seen every one of these notes. I see it all the time, dealers saying, "oh I sold this same note five years ago" The notes are ungraded because experts know they will grade NET. They are able to spot the tiniest flaw that even if an average collector had the note in his hand, he would not be able to tell it was "retouched" or "Repaired" Ebay doesn't provide a forum to air this out because guess what? Ebay profits off our stupidity! They don't want the big secret out that ungraded notes are for suckers. Once again, if you are buying a $100 star note from 1999 for $250 and the seller says "Superb Gem Uncirculated", it's probably OK. But on notes that are worth more than $500, you don't think those notes have been scrutinized again and again? An expert saying, "I can see a tiny tear that was repaired" Those words cut the value in half. So why not, recolor the note to make the image brighter and mask the flaws, sell it on ebay with no reserve as "GEM UNCIRCULATED" and know the buyer will not have it graded. Or by the time you have it graded, you have left feedback and it's too late to let everyone know the seller sold you a 30 NET. I wait until the notes are back from PMG before leaving feedback. One seller said of my negative feedback, "Well out of 5,000 notes sold, one negative review isn't bad!" No Mr. Seller, actually I had bought several notes from you ungraded, ALL came back less that what you advertised and I had simply left the feedback too early. The final ungraded note I bought, I waited until it got back from PMG praying that the seller was correct and it was "SUPERB GEM UNCIRCULATED" instead....35 NET, closed pinholes. I didn't even notice the closed pinholes until I got the note back!! DON'T BUY UNGRADED NOTES!!
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  25. Sheik Sheck
    I am stupid
    This is the last time, I promise!! I will never be STUPID again. Several Ebay dealers that continuously get 5 star feedback for selling ungraded notes. Probably because the buyer never gets the note graded. I have learned my lesson over and over again that ungraded notes that are rare or valuable are UNGRADED FOR A REASON. These rare or highly desirable notes have probably been looked at and looked at again and again by professionals that know why they should not grade them. THEY ARE WORTH MORE UNGRADED!! These sellers can describe them as "Almost Uncirculated" or a "Real Beauty LOOKS Gem Uncirculated" and get top dollar for them because normal collectors can never judge a note by a scan!!!! Any seller selling ungraded notes that says they are "Uncirculated" (and I am talking about expensive or rare notes usually more that 600-700) ARE NOT UNCIRCULATED. Otherwise, they would have them graded and sell them at a higher premium. I fell for it one more time. A seller that is usually good and who I have bought graded notes from but this seller mainly auctions ungraded notes. I bid and the price goes up and up. Who drives the prices up? Well I have a theory on that as well. So the note looks great on scans. I think if I grade it, it will be at least worth another $1000. The seller said the Fr-282 was "Near Uncirculated" Knowing myself that I am a sucker, I was hoping for a 45 EPQ knowing it wasn't close to uncirculated. How about 35 NET with Repaired on the back! So the sellers know these notes are going to be NET so they advertise as "NEAR UNCIRCULATED" or "SUPERB GEM UNCIRCULATED" knowing the sucker won't get it graded. I get them graded and virtually every note I paid over $750 for ungraded came back NET. Only 2 ever came back without NET and the best I ever did was a $10 small 1928 gold described as "SUPERB GEM UNCIRCULATED" by the seller and that came back AU55. Don't ever pay more than a couple of hundred bucks for an ungraded note unless you can look at it in person or get a professional opinion. There is a whole sub-culture of sellers profiting off this ugly practice.
    PLEASE, quit bidding and buying ungraded notes that are rare and/or expensive. They have been very well looked over and you are being bid up to where you will never get your money back. I promise, I will never purchase an ungraded note again. The sellers I refer to are very well established sellers that have 100% feedback because they prey on the uninformed. They make a fortune off losers like me. I'll be happy to post the pictures when I receive the note if you ask me to.
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