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GSA_Gem_Quest

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Journal Entries posted by GSA_Gem_Quest

  1. GSA_Gem_Quest
    I am Truly Honored and Humbled!
    I would sincerely like to thank PMG for bestowing the award for 2010 Best Presented Set to my large size $1 bill currency type set collection (The Newport Ridge Collection - Large Ones). I am truly honored and humbled to win the award in the first year it was presented.
    I started as a coin collector, and actively participate on the coin side of the Collector's Society, but gradually became interested in collecting currency, especially large size US bills. I have tried to put my set together for display here in the PMG Registry in the best way I could. Since I have not completed my set, I was surprised to have won the best presented set. But now the pressure is on to complete it with the best bills that I can obtain, within my budget. Always a challenge with these large size notes.
    It's a little quieter here on the notes side of the Collector's Society, but it is fun to watch as the excellent collections grow. There are many outstanding note collections here worth many more points than mine, but it is gratifying that PMG also recognizes my effort to try to present the set with nice pictures and interesting descriptions.
    As an aside, but something I am also proud of, I was honored a few years ago by NGC when I won best presented set on the coin side in 2006 for my GSA Carson City Morgan Dollar collection. I continue to try to upgrade that set as well.
    Here is one of the notes that put me over the top. Thanks again, PMG!

  3. GSA_Gem_Quest
    As a long time coin collector, I was never really interested in collecting paper currency.
    Why not? Currency was hard to store, hard to grade, hard to tell if it was genuine, and hard to price. It was just not the same holding a flimsy paper dollar bill in your hand, as it was holding a heavy Morgan silver dollar. There is no intrinsic value in paper, whereas there is value in the silver or gold in a coin. Currency is also easily damaged if you are not careful with it, and the modern currency designs never really interested me. I saved a few $2 bills I got from the bank, but that was it for my currency collection.
    Every once in a while, when I was bored looking at coins on the internet, I would cross over to the currency side of the websites for Heritage or the Collectors Society. What I found there really fascinated me. I was particularly interested in the older large size notes, which are a much larger size than modern currency. I thought that the designs were much more artistic, ornate, and historical, compared to modern notes. When I saw the series of ?Educational Notes? I was amazed at the spectacular vignettes.
    But the note that really sold me on currency collecting was the 1886 five dollar silver certificate known as the ?Morgan dollar? note. Wow!! If one collects Morgan silver dollars, this is a must have!! Now if only I could afford a nice one?
    I am not sure where this new journey is going to take me, but that is part of the fun.
    Here is a picture of my first graded note acquisition, a beautiful large-size gold certificate from 1922.

  4. GSA_Gem_Quest
    My take on it...
    Negatives
    ? Too many different varieties - causes collector confusion
    ? Too many issuers ? states, banks, rail roads, private companies
    ? Certain individual issues too rare, not enough notes for collectors
    ? No established or consistent pricing
    ? No consensus on which notes are desirable
    ? Confusion between proofs, specimens, advertising notes, scrip, unissued, and issued varieties
    ? Poor quality of paper, most issued notes tend to be of low quality
    ? Poor quality of vignettes in early notes
    ? Possibility of counterfeits
    ? Possibility of new hoards of undated unissued notes flooding the market
    ? Cut or hole cancellations reduces attractiveness and desirability
    ? Low representation for western states
    ? No official population reports
    ? No registry sets at NGC or PCGS
    ? No established catalog numbers to uniformly identify individual notes
    ? NGC and PCGS graders don?t seem to use uniform or consistent system for identifying notes on grading labels
     
    Positives
    ? Many varieties to choose from
    ? Many issuers to choose from
    ? Low prices compared to significantly over-priced Federal currency
    ? Low prices compared to higher population Federal currency
    ? Low prices compared to much newer Federal currency
    ? Many unissued notes are readily available in high grades, despite being much older than most Federal currency
    ? Spectacular vignettes on some notes, much more interesting than most Federal currency
    ? Historical significance of scenes of daily life during 1800?s
    ? Historical significance of notes from states prior to their admission as states, when they were still territories of the U.S.
    ? Interesting vignettes depicting allegorical events and figures
    ? Interesting signatures of historical figures, mostly hand-signed
    ? Spectacular color on some notes, much more interesting that most green-back Federal currency
    ? More variety than Federal currency
    ? More availability than older Federal currency from 1800?s
    ? Older than most Federal currency
    ? More ways to collect, more interesting themes to collect
    ? More potential for future price appreciation than over-priced Federal currency
    ? Lack of collectors and investors keeps pricing lower
    ? PCGS and NGC will grade obsolete notes