Fenntucky Mike

On 8/21/2021 at 8:07 AM, Revenant said:

Looks like my new notes are arriving today from Noteshobby And my P3s arrived at my in laws yesterday - I'll see them this weekend.

Yep same here, looks like the P85 should arrive today. Glad to see that notes from the website arrive within the same general time period as notes purchased from ebay. I picked up another note from them in an auction on ebay, I did my math correctly this time, and it was a little cheaper than buying direct from the website but I'm definitely cross referencing the prices before I buy anything from them.

On 8/18/2021 at 9:12 PM, Revenant said:

It's a good tip but they need to make it to the graders first. I'm guessing there must have been some world coins hitting at highers tiers that are bumping back my moderns. 

Yeah, once they hit quality control/shipping you might be able to see them in the population report before they ship. It pays off the most when you have coins that go to NCS after the first round of grading, all the coins in the submission were graded at the same time so while a few of your coins are going through the carwash all your other coins are just sitting there waiting and that's when you can usually get a sneak peak at the grades via the population report.

My submissions were received in yesterday, the wait begins..... Again.....

On 8/17/2021 at 7:42 PM, Revenant said:

I guess I'll see if I know results by Sept 1.

If you're looking for a preview check the population report and look for an increase. It should be easy since it's doubtful there are any other Z-coins being graded.  I'll do that quite often as they update the pop reports on Tuesdays and there is usually at least a few days between when the coins are graded and when they ship. 

On 8/17/2021 at 7:42 PM, Revenant said:

Well, I think you will be waiting a while on those. It arrived there 6/7, entered on 6/24, "Scheduled" for 6 weeks since 7/7 and all they'll say is "you're in the queue, I can't tell how far back, wait time is now 61 business days."  It was like 49 when I sent mine in. I guess I'll see if I know results by Sept 1.

They are opening the mail from the week my submissions were "delivered" so I hope to see them in the system by the end of this week, then a very long wait. Some of my coins are going to need conservation and I signed up for NGC Photo Vision, had to burn up that $500 some how.  So if everything stays true it will take 61 days, now, for the coins to be graded then I'll get the conservation yes/no email, that's another 20 days plus 1 day lost emailing then they go back into grading, which they seemed to fast track in the past (I hope it's not another 61 days), finally off to imaging (another 15 days). All told I'm looking at a minimum of 97 business days , I'm into 2022 before I'll get my coins back. 

+0 = 2,344 No dancing bananas today. 

On 8/13/2021 at 7:39 AM, Revenant said:

I think that's still a ways away but I could be wrong. I keep looking for the new 2021 Venezuelan notes to start popping up in PMG holders and so far it hasn't happened. I'm starting to feel confused and frustrated with that one. 

I've seen the raw Zim 50 being sold by noteshobby, which all of them have this weird crease at the security strip (probably from the wrapping), so I expect those to show up soon. They've had the 1MM Bolivar as well so I'm not sure what the delay is, other than there is maybe fewer collectors of Bolivars than ZIM dollars or they are just waiting to send in a bulk order.

On 8/13/2021 at 6:53 AM, Revenant said:

Ah. Well, nuts. I'll have to continue looking for ways to make your life more difficult now. 

You could always snipe me on a new Zim 50 when they start showing up. 

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I got my shipping confirmation this morning. You?

Yep, whew!

On 8/12/2021 at 4:26 PM, Revenant said:

If you snapped up a 68 EPQ from Noteshobby

That's me.

On 8/12/2021 at 4:26 PM, Revenant said:

If you snapped up a 68 EPQ from Noteshobby I think you'll be leading me by 9-15 points soon even with this, but don't get lazy. Dealing with that 69 EPQ you have on the P-83 is going to be a challenge to deal with though.  

Edit: Also, if I'm being completely honest, I bought this today after watching it for quite a while out of fear that you might buy it if I didn't, and I wanted this upgrade at the price I got.

I doubt this will induce anyone to buy this that wasn't going to before (other than you), because, while I pay attention to prefixes on these and find them interesting, they don't get you registry points - unless it's "ZA" for a replacement note. So there's no reason for this to interest others.

HA! This is cracking me up! 

Uh oh, what if they forgot to pull down their listing and they don't have the note. They'll cancel my order, now I'm going to be all nervous until I get shipping confirmation. 

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PMG posted my P-3 submission as "shipped" and posted grade results today. Received on 8/3/21 and Shipped on 8/12/21.

9 calendar days, folks. That is a turnaround.

A 65 and a 66 are solid, especially for 1st dollar notes and very consistent with my set overall. A 67 or 68 would have been GREAT. A 63 or 64 would have disappointed me. This is kind of a literal shrug.  I looked at it and just nodded a little and was like, "Not bad."

The seller I bought them from advertised them as "gem." A 65 or higher is gem Uncirc, so... as advertised. Can't complain about getting what you paid for, right? 

Since the cert#s are active in the system already I've already plugged them into my competitive and signature sets! I wasn't excited about getting to fill those holes at all! 

Competition-wise these additions are far from game changing but I'm still happy to see 100% on that set, and it is just going to be what it's going to be until and unless I decide to drop big-bucks for a P-3a, P-3b or P-3c to smackdown with the other 3 in the top 4.

Of course, it would be wonderful if one day I could collect all three of those rare varieties and achieve the same thing with P-2, P-3 and P-4 that I've achieved with P-1. That would be INSANE! Such a mind-blowing achievement to me. But that's for later.

I'm excited and they're not even my notes. 

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For today, in other news, Mike was nice enough to point out to me that he's trying to "ninja" me in the Billions short-set. So this one is for you, Mike:

A 3 point upgrade, bumping my 65 EPQ (in an old gen holder) to a new 68 EPQ. Just so you can work just a little harder, my friend. 

I'll have to work on bumping up my 1 Billion P-83 and my50 Billion P-87 later and even then I suspect you may one-day over take me, but you will have to bring an A game.

I am REALLY curious though to see if the note that comes is really going to be an AB prefix though (The seller has more than one, so I don't consider this guaranteed). But an image of a 67 EPQ they have for sale also shows an AB prefix and so I'm thinking the seller got a wad of AB prefix notes and cherry-picked and sent in several so I'm hopeful. Anything other than AA is pretty rare in the later 3rd dollar notes (purely in my subjective experience) since they were in  print for such a short time. If this note IS an AB prefix it'll get added to my sig set and the AA prefix 65 EPQ will stay too. If is an AA prefix I'll drop the 65 from the sig set - like I did with my new 20T replacing the old one. 

I also (to save on shipping, naturally) picked up a new VEN111b for my Venezuela set, to compliment my P-111a.

Since I have the a and b for VEN110 and VEN111 now I've also added a slot for VEN109a in my signature set and I'm going to make that an official goal - a and b for all three of those.

Well, you forced my hand. I've been watching a P85 for months now and I pulled the trigger on it today after I finished reading this.  Didn't want to take the chance of leaving it in my shopping cart incase this Journal Entry inspired someone to snap it up. Now I just need to wait for a nice juicy P87 to show up.

Combined shipping, the only way to by notes. 

Did all twelve of the notes you submitted have that printing on the back? I don't remember that being on all twelve, not that it should be the difference between being labeled canceled or not, but it's just a difference between the three notes posted here that might mean something. It's hard to tell a lot of the time if there is just an omission/mechanical error or if something changed in the way notes are designated. In the end I usually come up with a theory and assume I'm correct until I prove myself wrong.

+24 = 2,344 Another nice little increase.

5 Hryven +2

10 Hryven +2

20 Hryven +1

50 Hryven +1

100 Hryven +7

500 Hryven +7

1 Hryvnia +1

5 Karbowanez +1

10 Karbowanez +1

200 Karbowanez +1

On 8/9/2021 at 10:59 PM, Revenant said:

I would tend so say In.

Once you're in you're in and it's difficult to get kicked out after that. I would agree along those lines, they are in and should probably stay in, but if starting over I would probably say no unless their was some compelling evidence that they freely circulated as day to day currency used for basic purchases. 

On 8/9/2021 at 10:59 PM, Revenant said:

They make me think of the Traveller's checks - not really notes or currency, but, for some odd reason they got pick numbers assigned and now I can be a little freak about collecting them.

Yeah, it's just so much fun to collect like this with very inexpensive notes. With prices ranging from $4 - $1 it's hard to resist the temptation to pick up a few now and then that have unique stamps. If the price was more I would be much more selective and have fewer examples. My best scores with these have been bulk purchases, sight unseen, that contained several different stamp and signature variations. I like being a little off-kilter in the way I collect these. 

That seems just a little bit ridiculous, although it looks like a raw example sold for over $500 not long ago. I wonder how much crossover there is with Rhodesian collectors and the first Zimbabwe dollars? Rhodesian banknotes always seem to go for big money, one of the reasons I decided not to collect them. For now.

HA! I love it, collecting by cancelation stamp/s.

It is actually really interesting getting a few different notes with different cancelation stamps on them. The note already had a history in regards to why it was issued, how it was used and the times and events surrounding it but the cancelation stamps just add a whole new level to it and they can contain tons of added information. I think. I agree it's super enjoyable and very interesting. 

On 8/4/2021 at 2:06 PM, Revenant said:

They were 65s and 66s I think

I already have several replacement notes and I list prefixes in my sig set for a reason. 🤣

More on this later but I could also do a deep dive on branch stamps and dates on Traveller's checks. 🤣 My wife will be thrilled.

My NGC submission arrived on 6/7 or 6/8. They entered it 6/24. Went to "scheduled for grading" on 7/7 and has been there for 4 weeks. It just is what it is. 🤷

I noticed that this seller seems to have been putting out some better notes notes for auction recently, notes that they are typically asking moon money for. Must be time to clear some inventory I guess. 

Well I dragged my feet long enough for the turnaround times to jump up to 64 days for moderns. I took a gamble that times would get better and I lost.  At least I got to pick up 1 - 2 more coins to add to the submissions. I probably won't send another until next year.

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The 3a went for about $230 and the 3b went for about $370.

What were the grades on those? 

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PMG seems to be moving fast. I'm hoping to find out how the P-3d and P-3e did at grading sometime in September and have them back home for imaging well before December. I'm going to love having a 100% complete 1st dollar registry set at last.

PMG is definitely not as backlogged as NGC, , my NGC submission was "delivered" last week and I don't expect to see those coins back until at least December and I'm probably being a little optimistic. Congratulations on the soon to be complete set, always a good feeling. Now just don't do something crazy like collect by serial number prefix or replacements. 

Confirmed, the 2021 500 Hryven banknote with Shevchenko signature is Pick #127c and the 2018 issue is 127b. 

+21 = 2,320 A decent increase this week.

2 Hryven +1

5 Hryven +1

10 Hryven +1

20 Hryven +1

500 Hryven +1

1000 Hryven +1

2000 Hryven +2

10 Karbovantsiv +1

25 Karbovantsiv +1

1000 Karbovantsiv +3

1 Karbowanez +1

5 Karbowanez +1

10 Karbowanez +1

20 Karbowanez +1

50 Karbowanez +1

100 Karbowanez +1

200 Karbowanez +1

500 Karbowanez +1

I always get excited when I see the Karbowanez denominations increase, I would love to finish out that series one day. I have a feeling that all the notes graded are pre 1945 issues and I'm pretty sure I know who submitted the three 1,000 Karbovantsiv banknotes. 

+4 = 2,999 

20 Hryven + 1 

200 Hryven + 1

500 Hryven + 1

2000 Hryven + 1

I think I can safely conclude that the four notes are all early twentieth century notes. Tracking the population report is proving fruitful, knowing what the sellers are holding in their hands is very useful in determining my strategies.

I don't see any additional signatures or signature varieties listed for this note in any reference, there are notes of the same series with a third signature (Matvienko) who would have predated both the other signatures. I took a quick look at a lot of other P103's online and I have only found the two signatures, my guess is that the SCWPM either had an incorrect signature listed and then removed it or they purposely left a gap between 1 and 3. I tend to think there was a correction made by the SCWPM and Sign #2 was removed, thus the gap and the Pick # alignment of a/b and Sign #1/Sign #3. 

On 7/21/2021 at 10:23 AM, Revenant said:

My guess would be there was a 2nd signer in the middle but that denom wasn't issued / printed during that person's brief tenure.

The RBZ notes have the signatures of the governor and you have some sub-picks that have a signature for a governor that was only in office a few months, making those types relatively rare.

That was my initial thought but the 3rd signer had several signature variations, I think it more likely that Sign #2 is a variation of Sign #3. I'll have to look it up this evening but if I remember right there was not another signer between #1 (Hetman) and #3 (Yushchenko), as I don't think there was another chairman/governor of the NBU in between. Or the SCWPM wasn't sure and left a gap just in case.

On 7/21/2021 at 7:48 AM, Revenant said:

Side note, but I do agree that most of the a/b/c notes are signatures but you don't get some where it's a change in watermark or a change in another security feature.

Absolutely, there are a lot of small changes that will facilitate a new Pick #. In this set a few are a Latent image was added, a change to the serial number prefix (letters to fractions) and watermarks as you said. All very cool stuff but mainly signatures on any notes after 1992 (issued 1996) for this set.

EDIT: Taking a quick look at this set, specifically Pick 103, the P103a has a notation on the label "Sign. #1"  and P103b has a similar notation "Sign. #3". What happened to Sign. #2 and no slot for a P103c? I'll have to check this out later, something isn't quite adding up.

OK, so I think tracking the population report is about to pay off. There is some things going on right now and I'm pretty sure I have a good grasp of the situation because I've been monitoring and logging the population reports. More to come as info becomes available, it may take 3 - 4 weeks to shake out.

+2 = 2,295 Oh oh, starting to slow down now, come on 3,000!

2,000 Hryven +1

100 Karbowanez +1

The 100 Karbowanez has seen the most consistent activity with five weekly increases, albeit only a +1 increase each time.